


we are more (to me, my X-Men)

by gaypanic



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Alternate Universe - X-Men Fusion, Angst, F/F, Minor Character Death, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-03-16 11:25:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 58,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13635315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaypanic/pseuds/gaypanic
Summary: It’s been eleven years since Regina dropped out of Xavier’s school after she and Emma had a disastrous falling out, but old feelings always have a way of resurfacing when they’re least expected.A superhero/superpower AU in which Emma and Regina kinda sorta become enemies, but are forced to fight for the same side against a bigger evil. Can they reconcile their differences and face the past in order to move forward and save the world?(note: you can read this with or without X-Men knowledge)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> (as it goes with my fusion/crossover fics, you don’t need to know anything about x-men to read this)
> 
> Here’s some helpful info though, in case you know nothing about x-men:
> 
> Mutant: not human, gifted with one or more superhuman capabilities  
> Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters: school for mutants, founded by Xavier  
> Professor X/ Charles Xavier: he’s a telepath! Has mind control abilities and a machine called cerebro that helps him locate mutants in the world with psychic navigation  
> Wolverine/ Logan: he has long claws that protrude/retract from his hands (in this, they’re made of adamantium), and healing properties that apply to himself  
> Magneto/ Erik/ Max: his power is metal manipulation. Him and Xavier are kind of in a tug and pull opposition. They have a history that I won’t really be getting into  
> X-Men: Xavier’s team of mutants  
> Brotherhood: Magneto’s team of mutants 
> 
> (if anything along the way doesn’t make sense to you, feel free to ask me in a comment, and I’ll answer with the next update or reply to your comment)
> 
> This isn’t set specifically between any events in the X-Men universe, and only the tagged X-Men characters make appearances.
> 
> More information any mentioned powers can be found [here](http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Superpower_Wiki) but just know, I’m choosing to pick some of them apart and alter them, so what you read may not be exactly what the character is working with. But in case you need a general idea, they’re all on here
> 
> I don’t talk about all of their powers up front, but I worked really hard on picking them out so i can _assure you_ that you will find out what all of them are at some point in this story.
> 
> Title from EDEN’s song “love; not wrong (brave)”
> 
> I can’t promise super regular updates, but I _can_ promise to try. I love this fic and everything about it, and I only have this written so far but I've been planning this extensively all week. It's going to be super plot heavy lol. SO without further ado, I hope you enjoy!

_ (Emma) _

 

Nine years.

That’s how long it’s been since she set foot on the campus of Xavier’s school.

She had always made up excuse after excuse when anyone invited her for a visit or reminded her that  _ the job offer still stands _ . She’d considered visiting once or twice, the closest she ever came to doing so she actually teleported into New York and started walking towards the school, but the weight of everything that happened there still felt too fresh, even years later, and she escaped back to her apartment in seconds.

But now, she has no other choice.

She’d been working as a cop in Boston, undercover as a  _ human _ of course, carefully navigating her mutant abilities so that she just looked impressive, but not unnatural. Being a mutant in today’s society didn’t come with guaranteed acceptance, though she hoped one day it would. She avoided teleporting at all cost, knowing that it would be the easiest of her powers for anyone to pick up on, but as for her lie detection, it was her main motivation to keep the job. 

She could help save the world and blend in doing it.

It would be  _ awesome _ , Emma always thought, to be able to perform as a mutant cop, to everyone on the team, as opposed to just herself. Mutants would be an  _ excellent _ addition to the field, and not just for police, but for any field. 

Being a cop was her first choice, but she always thought that if mutants ever developed equal rights alongside humans, she would work in the medical field, responding to emergencies and teleporting directly to the victim where she could start the healing process while the other EMT’s raced to the location.

There were a few times where she almost outed herself intentionally, thinking that they would be able to utilize all of her unique skills for the better, but when she overheard some of her coworkers making ignorant jokes about mutants over lunch one day, all hope of doing so was gone.

She was more careful after that.

(But some things can’t be helped.)

A call for immediate backup comes into the station, and Emma is on it within seconds, jumping from her seat and racing to her patrol car. When she gets to the scene, everything is chaotic and out of police control, and she isn’t even sure what she’s planning on doing when she runs from the car. The next thing she knows, gunfire sounds and her head cracks against the pavement.

She expects to come to in the hospital, but instead she finds herself back at work, propped in a chair in an investigation room. At first she thinks she must have been dreaming, but then the Chief walks in, a stern look on his face, and Emma knows that he knows the truth.

“What happened?” she asks even though she has a pretty good idea.

He frowns at her in stark disapproval. “You were shot in the chest.” 

Of Emma’s three powers, she never thought  _ this one _ , the healing power that had saved her life countless times, would be the one to out her. She doesn’t know how to respond. 

“Do you know why you’re here?”

She clearly has nothing to lose anymore, so she snorts. “Do you mean alive, or in this room with you?” His unamused expression remains unchanging. “Yeah,” Emma admits. “I know.”

“Care to explain?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not necessary.” He doesn’t even blink. “Look, Chief, I’m valuable to the team. I know that no one thinks mutants are… normal, but my powers aren’t  _ bad. _ What I did to myself after the attack? The healing? I can do that to anyone else. Not just me. I haven’t been using my powers much here at all, except the lie detection, which has helped us out here so many times already. If you gave me a chance--”

“You’re not to be trusted.”

“What?” Emma can’t believe this. “I just told you that I have a lie detection mutation. It physically prevents me from telling a lie--”

“You’ve been lying to us since the beginning, Swan.”

She gapes at him. “That’s not--”

“The same thing?” he finishes. “I beg to differ.”

“But the healing… Sir, if you keep me on, I could help everyone here. No one would have to be out due to injuries anymore. None of us would have to  _ die _ \--”

“Who’s to say you’d do it? You don’t  _ have _ to do the right thing. You could be selfish or turn against us,” he says, interrupting her again. “You’re not to be trusted.”

_ He really believes that _ , Emma thinks, his words leaving her with no traces of untruth. “With all due respect, every one of us who works here, human  _ or _ mutant, has free will. Just because  _ I  _ am a mutant, does  _ not  _ mean I’m more likely to make selfish or immoral decisions.”

The Chief snorts. “We have no mutants that work here.” The message is clear.

“ _ Fine _ ,” Emma responds, struggling to hide her anger at the man’s incompetent judgement. “After this, I don’t want to work here anyways.”

“Well. Then I hope you’re okay with not working anywhere…” Emma looks up to him, her brows furrowing.  _ He can’t mean…  _ Oh.  _ He does. _ “Emma Swan, you’re under arrest. I believe you know your rights…”

Emma scoffs.  _ What rights? _ A part of her wants to fight him on it. Demand to know exactly  _ what she did wrong _ to deserve this,  _ what law she broke _ , what right  _ they _ have to lock her away, but two things stop her. 

The first being the knowledge that this is a losing battle for her.

The second being that she has a third power that the Chief doesn’t know about.

Just as she feels the cool metal of the handcuffs about to close on her wrists, she’s gone.

That’s how Emma becomes  _ wanted _ . 

She lives close to the station, so she knows she only has about five minutes until they get there, and she spends three of them grabbing the few things she might need and stuffing them into a backpack. She’s never been more grateful for her lack of materialism as she finishes up on time, moving on to pull out her phone and dialing a number she knows by heart, but hasn’t called in years.

It picks up halfway through the first ring.  _ He probably already knows what’s going on _ , she thinks. “Emma.”

“I don’t have a lot of time…” 

“You won’t need it. You know where to go.”

So she goes.

She’s sure that the professor had meant for her to teleport into his office, but she isn’t ready for that. Hell, she’s not even ready to be on school grounds, staring at the front of the mansion, but here she is anyways. 

The cops won’t be looking for her here. They wouldn’t know to. She has no rush to be inside, so she takes advantage. She forgot the phone was still in her hand, so when she hears a gentle voice on the other end, she jumps. “Come in whenever you’re ready.”

“Okay,” Emma breathes. “Is...uh,” she trails off, waiting to see if he already knows what she’s going to ask. She thinks he does, just because he  _ knows _ her not because he’s  _ reading _ her. The line stays silent, and she knows he’s keeping his promise not to read her thoughts. “Is Logan there?”

“He is. Do you want me to send him out?”

“Yes, please,” Emma answers, scuffing the tip of her boot against the dirt. “Thank you, by the way.”

“For what?” He doesn’t need to ask, but it only proves her point more.

“For keeping your promise…not reading my mind.”

“Emma,” he starts, and she closes her eyes, preparing herself for his next words. “After what happened… I wouldn’t--”

“Stop,” she cuts him off. “I can’t… I can’t talk about this. Not yet.”

“It’s been ten years, Emma…”

“ _ Eleven _ ,” she corrects.

“All the more reason.” The blonde doesn’t answer. “Logan will be out shortly.” Xavier lets a few beats pass before he hangs up, leaving Emma in the silence. 

She spends most of it with her eyes on the ground, feeling too fragile to look at the building. Not like it matters. A building is just a building, and the real reason she even feels the way she does isn’t here. She wouldn’t be.

Emma glances up in time to see Logan, looking exactly the same as he did all those years ago, marching towards her, still looking gruff even with the traces of a smile lining his face. Neither of them are into hugs, but this time they make an exception. It feels so comforting that it leads Emma to wonder when the last time she shared any contact like this.

“I’m glad you’re back,” Logan admits, but his face is wary. He doesn’t know what’s happened, but he knows that something has, and he doesn’t need to ask for Emma to start explaining things. 

He’s fuming by the time she finishes, and she tries for a shrug to calm him down, let him know that she isn’t making a big deal out of it. “It sucked, but there’s nothing to be done. Not immediately anyway. Equal rights are gonna take time.”

“They’ve  _ been _ taking time,” he growls.

Emma shrugs again. “Anyway, I’m wanted by the cops now. Probably more so after I teleported out as they were handcuffing me.”

Logan snorts giving her arm a soft punch, “That’s my girl.”

“I just can’t believe it. What were they trying to arrest me for? Preventing my death? It’s just…” she trails off, at a loss for words.

“Fucked up?” he offers.

“ _ Really _ fucked up. I could have been an asset to them, using my powers to full ability if they’d let me.”

“Well you know your offer here is still open. I know it’s not  _ exciting _ , but you’ll have a job. A home,” he looks at her pointedly, and she remembers the first time they met under similar circumstances. He smirks, “Looks like it’s happening again, Swan. It feels like just yesterday you were just a kid running from every foster family they tried to put you in.”

“Hey, you know as well as I do that I never  _ ran _ .”

Logan shakes his head with a laugh, “You were hard to catch. I never thought that I’d get your attention by just talking to you. But I guess I didn’t know about the lie detector then either, just the teleporting.”

“You were the only one I trusted at first. I’d heard so many lies that it was hard to understand what was happening in my head when it started.” Her lie detector is a powerful mutation, coming in handy in ways she appreciates, but it’s also incredibly flawed. The recognition of lies manifests itself in something that sometimes feels just like darkness, sometimes a swell of distrust for the speaker, sometimes a wave of ice cold doubt crashing into her heart. It’s only painful when it’s someone she knows and the sensation lingers, whereas the rest of the time, the lie will roll out with the moment.

 

_ Logan had been the first to say anything truthful to her once her powers were revealed. She’d thought she was broken, always full of stormy weather when anyone spoke to her, or maybe the weird feelings she got were because she was teleporting She wasn’t sure.  _

_ She’d never heard of a mutant when she realized she was one, her powers activating when she got into a fight at school. She sat in the principal’s office with a broken nose that hurt less and less as time passed, and the first pang in her gut happened when the man looked down at her and said, “You started that fight,” not bothering to  _ ask. 

_ He yelled at her when she denied it, and she wanted to disappear. The principal picked up the phone to call her foster mom, and when Emma heard the woman’s shrill voice on the other end, she just knew she couldn’t face that. Everything the principal said to the woman made her gut twist uncomfortably. _

_ She closed her eyes, trying to imagine she was anywhere else, and then, she was. _

_ It was the beach. _

_ She was so afraid at how she got there that she just stayed put. It was hours later when someone was suddenly next to her, reaching out his hand. “I’m Logan. I’m not gonna hurt you.”  _

_ A warmth raced through her veins, removing the negative feelings the principal stirred within her, and Emma knew he wasn’t lying to her.  _

_ She ran anyway.  _

_ Well, teleported away. _

_ This time she imagined a group home she had been in a few states over, and she went there. They were confused, but asked very few questions, placing her into another home. It took a week for the man at the beach to appear there too. _

_ She kept moving from place to place, and it took about two months for him to finally catch her attention. “Emma.” She froze.  _ How does he know my name?  _ “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, seconds before metal claws were unleashed from his hands, between the knuckles. Her eyes widened in shock, but she didn’t flinch. _

_ “You promise?” she asked.  _

_ “I promise.”  _

_ She watched as the claws retracted back into his hands. “You’re like me,” she said, a near whisper into the air. _

_ “There are more of us than you think.” Her belief in the statement was inherent. “And there’s a place you can go. It’s a school, so I know that probably doesn’t interest you, but you can learn about who you are. How to control your strengths. It can be your home.” _

_ Her heart swelled. _ Home. 

 

She looks up at the building, more nervous now that she had been on her first day here. Being here will change nothing, but Emma has to move on eventually. Maybe this could actually be helpful, if she lets it be. (She  _ thinks _ it could be, so it must be true.)

“Sometimes I wish healing magic could take care of emotions too,” Logan admits, placing a supportive hand on her shoulder. “But you’ve gotta learn somehow, kid.”

“Kid?” Emma snorts. 

“I don’t care how old you are, I’m always gonna call you that. Are you ready to go inside? I’m sure everyone will be excited to see you.”

Emma teeters on her feet for a moment, waiting for her excitement to outweigh her uncertainty. She counts to ten and nothing shifts, but she steps forwards anyways. 

As a mutant, as someone who can heal physical injury and as someone with the ability to immediately and physically remove herself from any given situation, she doesn’t think she should be afraid of anything, but she constantly has to remind herself to be brave.

It’s what she tells herself before they walk into the mansion, what she tells herself as the door closes behind them, and it’s what Mary Margaret tells her when she’s the first to greet Emma in the atrium. 

“You’re so strong, Emma, but it’s okay if you don’t always feel like it,” the woman beams as she pulls back from the hug she initiated.

Emma gins back at her, happy to be reunited with her friend after so long, but she can’t help but wince a little internally. She knows that Mary Margaret  _ means _ well, but she frequently imposes more than the blonde feels comfortable with. 

“Emma, I’m so sorry,” she says when she realizes, and Emma doesn’t need to see the look on her face to know it’s genuine.

“No, hey, don’t.” Emma manages a smile at her, “You can’t always stop it.” 

Mary Margaret nods, but doesn’t look convinced. The woman is an empath with retrocognition. The empath part of her is not  _ so _ powerful that she can manipulate emotions, but it  _ is _ powerful enough that she picks them up from others unintentionally. ( _ “You’d think I was already emotional enough with my  _ own _ ,” _ Mary Margaret had said once through tears, trying to make a joke. Emma comforted her then, same as know.)

“I know you don’t mean to. If anyone says otherwise, I’ll defend you. You know that.”

“Yeah,” she half grins up at Emma. “I just wish I didn’t have to do that to you. You know, after…” she trails off, squeezing her eyes shut. “I’m sorry,” she repeats, “For what happened, and for reading you again.”

At this point, Emma thinks comforting the woman is impossible, but when she sees David walking up, Mary Margaret’s face lights up before he even reaches them. She knows he’s there. The blonde chuckles when David greets his wife first, as if he hasn’t seen Emma since their wedding, but she doesn’t mind, and they both know it.

“Emma, hey,” he finally says, pulling her into a hug. “It’s good to have you back.”

“Yeah, it’s great to see you both again. Where’s, uh, everyone else?” Her hand rubs the back of her neck as she glances around, a little embarrassed that she can’t even remember who works there. 

“Hey, it’s cool,” David smiles, touching her arm lightly. “We can’t expect you to remember everything.” 

Emma nods, reassured by his words. She thinks it has something to do with his presence as well, but the extension of his own empathy isn’t as evident as Mary Margaret despite it being stronger. She’s never quite understood his power, but she always found it to be genuine and unintrusive, though she shudders to think what it would be like to have absolute charisma used against you.

“As you can see, I’m still here. Teaching two classes. One on  _ powers of the mind _ and another on  _ ethics and morality _ .” The blonde’s eyebrows raise, impressed. “Yeah, I know. It’s quite the class. It was Robin’s idea. His curriculum with  _ Mutants and the Law _ got too big, and he thought if we could separate it, it’d be a good fit for me. It really is too. I want these kids to know that there’s a time and a place to use their powers, and just because they  _ have  _ them, doesn’t mean they can take advantage. And then Mary Margaret--”

“I’ve been counseling,” she interrupts with a wide smile. “Archie resigned last year, and they asked if I’d be interested in the position. I was hesitant at first, since my retrocognition transcends my control, but the professor insisted it would be fine, so, here I am.”

“Has it been fine?” Emma asks.

“Definitely,” the woman confirms. “Oh! And you might not have heard, but Archie is trying to work in the government to fight on behalf of mutant rights!”

“It must not be going too great yet,” Emma says grimly.

“Why do you say that?”

“You’ll probably… I don’t know, dream about it or something tonight. But, um--”

“Emma!”

The blonde hardly has time to register who called out to her first before she’s being tackled by multiple sets of arms, pulling her into a hug. Her arms are awkwardly pinned to her side by  _ someone _ , but she tries to reciprocate the contact anyway. “Uh, hey guys…”

“Ruby, move, she’s  _ my  _ best friend.”

“You wish, Pinocchio.”

“I  _ told you _ not to call me that.”

Emma snorts, “August, come on, it’s a classic nickname. You can’t  _ really _ be upset about it can you? I mean, you can  _ literally  _ turn into wood.”

He pulls back to give her an exasperated look, his eyes dancing with humor. “Wood mimicry is no joke. Why Pinocchio though? Why can’t I be someone cool… like, Groot?”

“Because you’re not a  _ tree _ ,” a third voice says, grinning at Emma. She loves that she can just fall back into this banter with her friends so easily. It makes her feel like she can get used to this place all over again.

“And  _ you’re _ not a  _ bird _ , but we still get to call you the same of an awesome fictional sidekick.”

At that Robin laughs. “I suppose I just got lucky.”

“Okay, well here’s a question: why am I the only one that gets a funny nickname for my powers? Why doesn’t Ruby get called  _ The Big Bad Wolf _ or something?” Ruby playfully hits him in the arm, and he does it back.

A deep chuckle sounds from behind the group, and Emma’s smile slips in nervous anticipation. Xavier is rolling up to them, followed closely by a smirking Logan. “I’m pleased that you’re back, Emma. Even if you are a bad influence on this group.”

“Sorry, Professor,” Emma says, clearly not sorry at all. He smiles up at her, and seeing him is a sobering moment, bringing her back to the reality of what her life means right now. She’s surrounded by friends, but the giddy emotions that come with being reunited will fade. Their presence will always be comforting in a way, but it isn’t going to constantly cushion her from all the less than positive emotions this place will ultimately bring back to her.

She still wishes things were different, even if she is, in a way, glad to be back. 

“Might we take a moment?” Xavier asks, and Emma nods. He rotates to head back towards his office, and she smiles at her friends as she passes them.

Walking through the school is more than she expected it to be. Unlike her friends, its appearance remains the same, and she spots a statue that reminds her of that time…  _ no. _ A passageway where she and…  _ no. No. _ Emma isn’t letting herself go there, even if she has to fight it at every turn.

She’ll just have to harden herself even more than she had in the past eleven years since… 

“Emma.”

She looks up to Xavier, now in place behind his desk. She shakes her head as she closes the door behind her and takes a seat across from him. “Sorry. I, uh… It’s just…”

“You don’t need to explain.” Emma opens her mouth to challenge his statement, but he shakes his head. “I’m not going to pull the thoughts from you. They’re your business. I meant that you can keep them where you want. You can leave them behind, forget them… bury them if you must. I just don’t want them to take over. Are you going to be alright? Coming back here?”

Emma wants to say,  _ I’m fine _ , but the words don’t come out, so she shrugs in response to his question, and then says, “I’ve missed everyone, and I’m grateful for the job.”

He smiles the kind of smile that tells her he  _ knows _ she didn’t answer his question, that she can’t without expressing vulnerability. “Believe me, I’m really appreciative of this your return. I know the circumstances that led you to accept aren’t tolerable, by any means, but…”

“I get it,” Emma smiles. “Honestly, I think I was bound to return here one day. I just… hoped the ‘real world’ wouldn’t be the way it was,” she scoffs with her air quotes. “But this is a great chance to help. And I’m glad you’re offering me the chance to do what no one else wanted me to.” Green eyes drop to her lap. She’s grateful when Xavier doesn’t push the subject, allowing her a moment of silence. “You still want me for healing, right? As the school nurse?”

The professor nods, “That would be appreciated. Granny’s been in the position, but she’s doing that on top of everything else she does for us already. Don’t get me wrong, she’s great at medicine, understanding health better than most of us with her regenerative strengths, but they don’t apply to others in the way that yours do. Logan’s as well. You’re invaluable, Emma.”

It’s all she’s ever wanted to hear.

* * *

Emma settles easily into the position, she settles easily into the environment with the students and her friends and coworkers, but she doesn’t settle in so easily to the building, or rather, the idea of it.

Her room now is on the opposite side that her room as a student was. Nobody brings up the past, unless it involves a time with  _ just _ the people any of them still talk to, the people that are still around. She knows it isn’t just for her sake either, the past contains all kinds of painful memories everyone is as reluctant to bring up as she is about… 

_ But anyways _ .

Emma thinks that it helps, not being the only one with baggage. 

She finds ways to numb herself from it all, same as she did eleven years ago when everything happened, and she had to stay until graduation. Same as she did when she moved away and found space but not closure.

Maybe she doesn’t smile as much this way, blocking herself off from as many feelings as she can, but it’s a better alternative than hurting even just a little bit. 

It’s only a matter of time before someone calls her out on it.

It happens at a staff dinner one weekend. They all make a point to get together, just adults, to spend time relaxing and enjoying each other’s company with drinks and good food. This time it’s just those of them that were students together, Emma, David and Mary Margaret, Ruby, August, Robin, and Elsa, and when Ruby puts a shot in her face, Emma takes it.

They go a little overboard this time, but it’s a holiday, and everyone just wants a break.  _ Emma _ just wants a break. She’s felt so on edge lately that she honestly worries about reaching an insurmountable breaking point. Drinks with friends seems like a good idea.

Everyone else is tipsy, bordering on drunk, and Emma is so far behind despite having drank more than all of them. She learned the hard way (or maybe it was the easy way considering what could have happened to a sixteen year old Emma consuming as much whisky as she had) that having a healing power meant that getting drunk wouldn’t be an easy feat, as her body was constantly replenishing itself.

But it wasn’t impossible, and she’d be damned if she didn’t get there tonight.

Everyone gives her worried looks, Mary Margaret more than anyone else, and Emma isn’t surprised. By the time she finally starts to feel a buzz, she starts shooting looks back at her friend just to make her stop. 

She doesn’t think about how she hasn’t talked to  _ anyone _ about what happened to bring her here, outside of Logan and Xavier, until Robin nudges her, “Hey, so you were a cop before this? I’ve never gotten to ask you how that was. I’d be so into that, but they wouldn’t want me if they knew what my power was…”

Emma scoffs. “They don’t give a damn  _ what _ your power is. Just having it is enough for them to want none of us,” she says, taking another long drink, from the bottle at this point.

Robin’s face falls. It hurts to see, and she wishes her power were to take back time just to have not disappointed him with those words. But if that was her power…  _ no _ , but she lets her mind go there anyways... who knows where she and Regina would be now.

She squeezes her eyes shut, opening them again when she feels a hand against her arm. It’s Mary Margaret because  _ of course it is _ , and the expression on her face is completely conflicted, letting Emma know that she knows more than anyone else, about all of it. Her retrocognition allowed her to watch it firsthand, and Emma shakes her head as soon as she spots the apology in the woman’s eyes. “Don’t. Please. I know you can’t control your dreams.”

Everyone sits, entirely too quiet, and it makes Emma feel like she’s just crashed the entire night. All she want is to disappear, but she’s done that before, teleported back to her room. She gets where she aimed to go, but it never takes here where she wants.

Where she  _ wants _ to be is somewhere she doesn’t have to feel like  _ this. _ Somewhere that goes beyond a physical home, feeling irreplaceably and wholly  _ home _ , beyond the physical atmosphere. An emotional safe place.

It only exists in the past, she’s sure.

“Emma, talk to me. Please,” Mary Margaret whispers. “It’s… this isn’t healthy, and I’m worried about you. Your either so shut off that I couldn’t read your emotions even if I wanted to, or your guard is down so low that I couldn’t ignore them if I tried.”

It’s a confirmation, that she really hasn’t been doing as well as she’s let on. She doesn’t know how she plans on getting to a place where she  _ is  _ doing well, but it isn’t going to be by talking to Mary Margaret, it isn’t going to be hanging out with Robin, and it isn’t going to be by letting David lead her through her feelings with his empathetic conversion.

It isn’t going to be  _ here _ at all.

She probably shouldn’t, but she finished the bottle of liquor in front of her. “Can we talk later?” she asks the empath, and Mary Margaret worries her bottom lip between her teeth. Emma thinks she’s going to try insisting again, but she backs off with a small nod. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“Thanks,” she murmurs before glancing at the rest of her friends. “Sorry for ruining the party.” She doesn’t wait for their reactions before she disappears, chasing the impossible.

Her teleporting is usually instantaneous, or pretty damn close to it, but this time it’s a rough tug and pull. She cleared her head of location, focusing on the feeling of home she yearns for more than anything just to see if it takes her anywhere. She can always imagine her room, so it’s not like she can get  _ lost _ . The alcohol probably doesn’t help the travel, but it certainly helps the emotional drive, erasing the detailed rationality with which she was taught to approach teleporting.

It feels like so long, but it’s likely been less than a minute when she finally hits the ground somewhere, and she scrambles to her feet, trying to recover her balance. She’s too dizzy to open her eyes at first, but she hasn’t heard anything to indicate that she needs to  _ get out _ , so she figures she has some time. As long as she didn’t end up somewhere she shouldn’t… 

Her jaw drops when she opens her eyes.

“What the fuck?” she blurts out.

She’s standing in the middle of fucking museum in the middle of the night, surrounded by red laser beam lights like something from a movie, one of them only an inch from her face, and if this isn’t the absolute furthest thing from  _ safe _ she’s ever felt… She shakes her head in disbelief, blaming the alcohol and trying to figure out  _ why _ she ended up  _ here _ when her emotions were supposed to take her to  _ home _ and  _ comfort _ .

“Emma?” The voice comes from behind her, and it doesn’t so much startle her as it does send her heart sinking to the pit of her stomach.  _ No way _ is this happening. But sure enough, she carefully turns towards the speaker, her eyes meeting dark brown through the dark, her face lit up only by the red beams surrounding the blonde.

The expression on Regina’s face holds more than Emma is capable of (or  _ willing to _ ) break down, but she’s definitely surprised. “What--”

“I don’t fucking know, okay?” Emma grumbles, tearing her eyes away. She knew that she still felt animosity towards Regina after what happened, she knew that she missed what they used to have, she knew she wished it had gone differently, but she was  _ sure _ that she wasn’t in love with her anymore. Clearly she was wrong.

Emma freezes then. “Shit,” she mumbles under her breath, glancing up at Regina to see if she heard any of that, but the brunette just looks a little lost, the only amount of startled likely spurred by Emma’s presence and not her thoughts.

“I… I’m not…” Regina starts, swallowing hard as she shakes her head. “Emma, I’m not going to use my powers on you.” At that Emma scoffs, looking away again, crossing her arms, careful not to shift too much, her eyes on the laser beams criss crossing around her. “I’m  _ not _ ,” Regina insists. “You know I’m not.”

“ _ Right now, _ ” Emma mumbles.

Regina huffs but otherwise has no response to that. The two stand in awkward silence for a moment that seems to be never ending. Standing so still in such a compromising spot is starting to make Emma start to sweat, but she doesn’t feel safe enough to teleport out, and she is wry to admit that she doesn’t want to leave.

Yes, she’s still angry at Regina, but even so, her presence is intoxicating Emma, and a part of her wants to be here, even if almost every other part is screaming at her to get out.

“You haven’t changed much,” Regina finally says and Emma glares at her. “Physically, I mean. You… I mean, you look the same.”

“Yeah, that’s what happens when your cells replenish themselves automatically,” Emma quips.

“I was always jealous of you for that.”

“Yeah, well at least  _ you _ can get drunk without having to drink an entire bottle of liquor.”

Regina squints at her. “ _ Are _ you drunk?”

The blonde closes her eyes, sighing and carelessly making gestures with her hands in front of her. She hears Regina inhale sharply. “That’s beside the point.”

“Is it though?” Emma scowls. “How did you get here?” She doesn’t justify that with an answer, not that she even  _ has _ one. Another few beats pass. “Hey, so, while you’re in there, do you want to do me a favor?” Regina’s eyes flash to something to the right of the blonde, and Emma follows her gaze.

“Are you kidding me? I’m not participating in this heist of yours. You were going to get whatever’s in that display case yourself before I got here, so you can do it without me.”

“You know I could just  _ make  _ you do it right?”

“You could, but you won’t.” 

Regina crosses her arms. “I know I don’t  _ deserve _ your help, but…”

The blonde produces another scoff, more abrasive. “ _ That’s _ an understatement. Besides, I’m literally wanted by the police. I don’t need a reason to make that worse.”

“ _ What _ ?”

Emma shakes her head. “Doesn’t matter.” She still has her arms over her chest, her hands gripping her arms so tightly she can feel her body healing the bruises as she creates them. She can’t  _ believe  _ this. It registers almost simultaneously that she doesn’t still feel the emotion that led her to leave her friends in the first place, and it isn’t lost on her that she can’t think of anywhere else she’d be okay with disappearing to.

Green eyes flash back up to Regina’s, watching her almost concerned and something about it just…  _ she has no right _ , Emma thinks to herself, the anger stewing back up.

Regina speaks seconds later. “You’re mad…”

“Of  _ course _ I’m mad! And what happened to not using your powers on me?”

“I meant--”

“Newsflash, Regina, your emotion detection, as weak as it fucking is,  _ is still a power _ .” Regina’s eyes soften momentarily, and Emma feels her nerve slipping. “I swear to god, if you try to apologize…”

“I won’t,” Regina says, the icy hardness covering her expression almost entirely. “If you’re not going to help me, then please get out and let me handle this.” 

Emma doesn’t move. “Why are you doing this?”

“It’s not for  _ me _ . It’s for the Brotherhood.”

“ _ You’re _ in the Brotherhood?”

This time, Regina’s the one to scoff. “What, are you going to stop me?” Something about the way she says it makes Emma want to do exactly the opposite of what she expects, just so she’ll be wrong. So she rolls her eyes and slides on a glove before teleporting in the small space next to the case Regina’s trying to break into. She hears Regina gasp and she wonders if it’s a matter of Emma’s safety or getting herself caught. The blonde picks the lock with a hair pin, takes the artifact from the case and locks it again before teleporting to the space next to Regina, free of laser beams.

“You’re lucky I brought gloves with me, or else I might not have done that.”

Regina squints at her as Emma passes Regina the artifact, their fingers brushing enough for a streak of warmth to shoot up her spine and make her head feel a little fuzzy. The brunette knows her well enough to read through the lines.

“You still would have.”

“Yeah, well, maybe it’s the alcohol,” Emma suggests, and Regina quirks a brow. 

The blonde is closer now, really able to take in Regina at this age, nearing thirty, and all it’s doing is making her feel more of the things she’s supposed to… just  _ not _ . She’s aged well, looking just like a more mature version of the girl Emma fell in love with. No lines on her face are noticeable, with the exception of her lip scar, which Emma zones out on, wondering if that even counts.

She catches herself, forcing her eyes back to Regina’s, sucking in a breath when she finds dark eyes on her own lips, darting back up to meet her eyes at the blonde’s sudden noise. “I need to go,” Emma says.

“Are you going to tell them about this?”

“If I do, I’d also have to tell them I aided you in grand larceny, so… no. Xavier’s got enough on his plate without me fucking anything else up.”

Regina blinks in confusion. “You’re back at the school?”

“You’ve got an evil squad now?” Emma counters, avoiding the question and taking a step back. “I’ll see you, Regina.”

“Will you?” Regina asks, and Emma has to tell herself she’s imagining the breathless way the brunette asked that. 

She shrugs in response. “I guess so. I  _ said _ it, didn’t I? You know better than anyone how that works.” 

Regina’s face transforms to a picture of confusion, everything else getting buried beneath it. “Emma?” She swallows. “How did you get here?” she asks again.

Emma can’t answer. She’s sure she doesn’t know, but with Regina’s eyes on hers, it’s clear. It takes her by shock, but somehow it still makes sense, and she decides to answer the question the best way she knows how. Thought. A test for the woman before her. 

_ I let my emotions take me to the closest thing my heart considered as safe _ .  _ Even after everything, it must still be you. _

Regina’s expression doesn’t change. She didn’t hear it.

Emma gives her the closest she can manage to a smile, and she sees the moment Regina realizes it was all just a test, but when she tries to speak, Emma beats her to it. “Goodnight, Regina.”

The next thing she knows, the walls of her room surround her.

She lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, and she falls asleep that night wondering what any of it meant.


	2. Chapter 2

_(Regina)_

 

Regina has never been more grateful that her mind keeps to itself in her sleep as she is the night after she sees Emma for the first time in eleven years. She dreams enough of Emma as it is, the last thing she needs is for her telepathy fo wiggle itself into the blonde’s dreams, which, for the record, are probably _not_ about her.

Tonight’s dream starts different from the rest, just a simple reenactment of their confrontation at the museum, but it quickly goes down an alternate route that ends, well… different than it had in real life as it morphs into other dreams about Emma the brunette finds herself experiencing from time to time.

She awakes suddenly with a start, taking heavy breaths as she goes to splash some cold water on her face. There’s no going back to sleep now, and there definitely won’t be a return to her bed until the next night. So she takes a cold shower and decides that today is just going to have to start at this ungodly hour.

Nobody else wakes up for another few hours, the first being Lily, walking into the kitchen with her usual morning scowl. “Why do you always wake up so early? Even in school… Unbelievable. I still can’t believe I’m friends with a… _morning person._ ”

“You shouldn’t complain you know, or this _morning person_ will stop making you coffee.”

“Yeah right,” Lily murmurs as she pours herself a mug.

“Besides,” Regina continues, “I’d probably still be asleep if I could be. This time, anyway.”

“Rough night?”

“You could say that...”

“Well what would you say instead?” Lily challenges, taking a seat across from Regina at the table, raising her eyebrows in question. Truthfully, Regina doesn’t know _what_ she would say, but she knows that even if she did, she wouldn’t want to tell the other woman about it.

“Rough night,” Regina repeats with a shrug.

“This isn’t about the heist, is it?” Lily asks. “I thought it went okay--”

“It did.” Regina interrupts. “I just... didn’t sleep very well. Nothing worth mentioning.”

Lily squints at her across the table, and Regina pretends not to notice. She’s fidgeting and thinking nothing of it, likely because she’s too busy thinking about how she saw Emma...  who’s back at the school? Emma, who randomly teleported to Regina’s location and was just as surprised as she had been? Emma, who was testing Regina in the end, making her thoughts vulnerable just to see if the brunette was desperate enough for the answer?

She had been. She still is.

But that was a line Regina was unwilling to cross again.

Does that mean there was still a chance to fix things?

“Regina?” Lily asks, watching her carefully, amused like she’d been trying to get her attention for a while now. Regina just looks at her. “What are you thinking about? You haven’t acted like this since…” The brunette sees the moment it dawns on Lily, her face softening just enough to be both a dismissal and an apology. “Oh.”

Regina tears her eyes away. She doesn’t want to talk about this.

“Did you see her?” Lily asks, all emotion untraceable as each one mingles with another, and Regina almost wants to use her power and make her forget.

“See who?” Tink asks, bouncing into the kitchen. Regina lets out a low sigh.

Lily snorts. “I’m surprised you don’t already know.”

“I can’t see everything, you know,” the blonde looks at her with irritation. “You should have stayed in school longer. Gotten a better grasp on what mental powers are like.”

Standing up, Lily gapes at her defensively. Regina presses her fingers to her temples, trying to tune out their argument. She doesn’t want to deal with this today. “You’re one to talk! You left long before me and Regina did. And you can stop trying to make me jealous anytime now. Mental powers aren’t all that great. I have fucking wings and all you can do is _sometimes_ see the future. And even then, it’s not like you’re always _right_.”

“I’m more right than _you_ are. All you have are guesses--”

“Who said I even cared about the future? I can _fly_ , I don’t give a fuck what’s going to happen ten years from now. The present is enough as it is.”

“Well, I--”

And that’s the last either of them say, suddenly rendered speechless, and they glance at Regina in shock. “I just want you both to be quiet,” Regina groans, resuming her position, eyes closing. “If you promise to just… drop it, I’ll stop.” She drops her hands and stares at them both, waiting for their nods, and when she gets them, she drops her mental commands on their words.

“Fuck,” Lily mutters. “I can’t believe you just mind controlled us. I thought you hated doing that.”

“I _do,_ but you two were pissing me off.”

Tink shrugs, “Anyway, who were you talking about?”

Lily turns to her, a vague and mild excitement etched on her face, but before she can mention Emma, she’s interrupted by a wild giggle. “Someone brought their powers out to play I see…” Rumple’s eyes fall on Regina, and she rolls her eyes.

“Don’t make a big deal out of it. I just wanted them to stop arguing so--”

“You made them stop talking. Clever.” Rumple looked satisfied for a brief moment before his contentment is replaced by a grimace. “I want more. Luckily, I know just the opportunity.”

“It creeps me out that your mood shifts so quickly,” Regina comments, trying to change the subject.

He ignores her, his grin shrinking to an irritated scowl before returning once again, somehow more thrilled as it only proves Regina’s point. “We need numbers.”

“Isn’t that why Magneto left with Killian and Daniel? To build our team?”

“Yes,” Rumple sing songs, “But this is different.” A dark expression clouds his eyes as his anticipation grows sinister. “There’s something we need from the school.”

 _Of course_ there is. Regina has to fight back a groan in favor of the obvious problem with Rumple’s plan, the part that has nothing to do with Emma being back there. She’s not even sure anyone else knows that little detail. “No. Absolutely not,” she tells Rumple. “Erik wouldn’t like that. You know he wouldn’t.”

“Why not?” Rumple asks, his nose scrunching up. “It’s not like he and Charles spend time together skipping through fields of daisies.” And sure, Magneto isn’t on the professor’s _side_ or anything, but the relationship between the two has been neutral at the very least for the past few years, and she knew Erik didn’t have any desire to change that without some kind of motive. “Or can you relate?”

At that Regina scowls. Lily snorts and shoots Tink a look that makes their previous conversation click in her eyes. Okay, so maybe they _do_ know that Emma’s back at the school, but that comment was uncalled for.

“Why do _we_ need to add to the numbers anyways?” Regina asks, choosing once again to _not_ talk about Emma.

“You haven’t even heard my plan yet.”

Regina scoffs, “Like you have one.” Just like that, the sly grin is back, and Regina isn’t going to bother trying to figure out what it means. She could just read his mind, but honestly, it’s a place she doesn’t want to go. She shudders to think of what kind of things she would learn. “Fine,” she scowls. “But if we need numbers, we’ll need a reason to convince them to join us…”

Rumple raises his eyebrows at her.

“I’m not going to manipulate people to join us. If your plan is so great, we shouldn’t need mind control.”

“Maybe you don’t want to use your powers to get what you want…” Rumple starts, a heavy seriousness settling in his features, his voice a low hiss, “But I’m not above it.”

It’s the kind of thing her mother would say.

In fact, it’s something Regina is almost sure her mother _has_ said.

She storms out of the room without another word, wishing she could block her own thoughts just as she could block others’.

There’s not a chance.

For a few paces in her room, she’s momentarily relieved that the reminder of her past, the reminder her least favorite person, has made her thoughts on Emma disappear, until she realizes that she’s back to thinking about the blonde again.

For the past eleven years, Regina had blamed herself for the apprehension she has about her powers. There was a reason she didn’t feel comfortable using them, as they could only be used _against_ someone, her use of them could never end positively, but suddenly Regina’s coming to realize that her fears aren’t just about what happened with Emma.

They’re about her mother too.

She was raised by both her mother and her father, or at least under a roof that belonged to them both, but it was clear who held the power. She grew up knowing that her mother was a mutant and her father was not, but that wasn’t why her mother had control. She eventually learned that he was staying because he _had_ to.

Cora’s power was ruthless. It was hypnosis, and she would use it freely, without regard for what the other person felt. She used it against Regina, to control her, and when Regina finally was old enough to understand it, Cora confessed and let Henry go from his spell, allowing him to file for divorce.

Regina wanted to stay with him instead of Cora, and the woman had no issues letting her go, believing her to be human, powerless.

But the day she left was the day her abilities appeared, not that she could tell.

In addition to hypnosis, Cora had a powerful cloaking ability. A way to shield herself and those around her from telepaths, which meant that as long as Regina was around her, she couldn’t tell that she had that very ability.

It struck her hard the minute Henry drove them out of range, her head filling with noise she wasn’t sure how to stop and ideas she didn’t know how to let go of. She cried, and Henry changed their course, taking her instead to Xavier, where he knew Regina belonged, and where she would remain safe from Cora.

It was a past Regina did everything to forget, trying to separate herself from everything her mother was, and likely still is, but she hadn’t thought about the woman in years, and now that her thoughts have returned to Cora, it almost seems silly to think any of this started with Emma.

A knock on the door breaks her from her thoughts, and she’d be relieved if she didn’t think it was someone else coming to pester her about _everything._

“He knows what he’s doing you know,” Lily says as she pushes her way into the room. “You should know by now how smart he is, and that he only wants to help you reach your full potential.”

Regina snorts, “No, he doesn’t. He’s selfish and rude, and if he wants what’s best for me, it’s only because it comes with him getting what he wants first.”

“Yeah but you joined him--”

“No,” Regina corrects, giving Lily a stern look. “I joined _the Brotherhood_ . I joined _Magneto_ . Rumple isn’t actually in charge, he just _wants_ to be. He’s nothing more than an imp.”

“He’s a genius,” Lily counters, and Regina eyes her suspiciously.

“Are you kidding me? He’s tricking you right now. Snap out of it,” she says, even though she knows Lily can’t, unless Regina chooses to break it herself. Her mind control trumps Rumple’s Trickster abilities, but if anything, it’s a test to make Regina use it, just to show her what she’s wasting. “You can tell him that I’m not going to use it. We’ll find another way.”

Lily pouts at her, and Regina actually has to push her from the room and slam the door behind her. She puts her head in her hands for what feels like the millionth time today and groans. It would be _so easy_ to just put herself in charge, take over the rest of the group and call the shots, but that requires more power that she doesn’t want to bring out.

Detecting emotion is invasive, but it’s her weakest power, nothing like Mary Margaret’s empathy, so she doesn’t mind accessing that. She doesn’t even mind using telepathy for good reason, or mind control for something mundane. But she doesn’t want to use people like her mother did. Like Rumple does.

She doesn’t know if Lily even relayed the message, so she reaches through the building, finding Rumple’s mind and sneaking into it, ignoring all the forming thoughts and the pre-existing ones, only stopping by to leave him a message.

_Give me a reason to help you, or else consider me out of this mission._

But he catches her before she can leave, holding her in there with his persuasion. _You helped us once_ , he reminds her. _Why is this time so different?_

 _This is about breaking in. Using people the way we think we ought to be able to. Maybe our side isn’t_ good _, but consent still applies to the mind. I’m not sinking that low._

_If you aren’t here to help us, then why are you here?_

It’s a good question, Regina thinks to herself, tearing herself from Rumple’s hold on her in his mind and commencing on blocking out everyone.

She knows why she’s here, and it has less to do with running to Magneto and his team and more about what, or _who_ she was running from. Not that it matters anymore. Certain events need to remain where they are. Deep in the past, locked up behind an insurmountable wall of broken emotions and forgotten memories, with people who have long let it go even if she can’t.

At school, everything had been bad and when it didn’t get better, it only got worse.

Tink was there waiting for her. She knew it was going to happen about a week before it did, that Regina was going to run away, and she found her before anyone else could. She had left school a year prior after a precognitive dream about her giving into darkness. She chased it like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

She took Regina to the same place, insisting that the brunette would belong just as much. Regina wasn’t so sure. She had just seen a side to her telepathy that she hadn’t wanted to believe in, a side that could cause destruction and hurt, and the last thing she wanted was to give into darkness, but her friend assured her it was where she belonged.

Lily wasn’t far behind, claiming she was following her roommate, but Regina knew better. She was following the darkness just as Tink had. It was just what she did, always attracted to the darker of two sides.

Regina didn’t think she was the same way.

Her friends had been chasing the darkness all their lives, but for Regina…

Her life had been full of light, but now it just wasn’t.

She didn’t want to fill it up with darkness just because the light was gone, but in a world of dichotomies, she didn’t think she could fit in any other way.

She didn’t belong with the Brotherhood and it’s inclination towards evil, and after everything, she didn’t belong at school in all it’s pure goodness.

As for _home_ , it didn’t exist anymore. Not with her manipulative mother, and not after her father’s passing, a tragedy that had occurred within the past year, a _natural_ happening, as the doctor’s said. Something that could never have been prevented.

She remembers the way Emma had sobbed, convinced she could have saved him, even though her healing powers were nowhere near developed enough to do something so big.

She remembers the power of the emotions filling the room in that moment, something so unconditional that Regina believed the emotions were all her own and couldn’t possibly belong to Emma even though a part of her knew they did.

This moment is another that frequents Regina’s dreams.

Her dreams had been especially bad in her first nights away from the school, until they slowly faded out into waking thoughts of regret and fears about the kind of potential her power held or what it would be used for if she gave into the darkness, which of course, she was always encouraged to do with the Brotherhood. Especially when it came down to Rumple.

The man became her mentor, as his power was closer to hers than the others, both having an element of mental control, though it wasn’t hard to tell that where his had more variety, hers had more strength. He was jealous of her power, but knew that if she reached her full potential, he would benefit as well.

But Regina hated her powers. She had no intention of using them. Not at first, anyway.

Erik was more patient with her than Rumple, telling her that she would be ready when she was ready but that holding herself back would only hurt her in the end. She told him she was already hurt enough.

Killian told her that darkness was meant to be embraced. She told him that with a _dark form_ and a power like _darkness manipulation_ , he was more than a little bit biased.

Rumple told her that she was wasting herself, selfishly squandering what could obviously benefit all of them. She told him to fuck off.

But he pushed her, just as she should have suspected he would.

As a trickster, he could persuade anyone he wanted, he could push people to do his will and twist people’s minds in a way to make them see what he wanted, he could trick people and get away with it, but when it came to Regina, his powers were all but moot. But he found his ways: through other people, persuading _them_ to persuade _her_ ; making her see things that weren’t there; trying to manipulate her dreams.

It wasn’t effective, but it was annoying, and when Regina snapped, silencing his abilities with her mind, forcing him to stop aiming for the reaction he wanted, she did exactly what he hoped she would. He grinned at her despite the control she had over him, and she immediately released him. Other than the unintentional emotional reads she’d made, this was the first of her powers she had used since she left.

No one pushed her anymore after that.

She was a sideline participant in the Brotherhood, always just letting the others take the lead despite being one of their strongest members, but she couldn’t always be, she realized as they fought off a mutant gone wrong, someone of their own kind who had lost control in his demon physiology, having lost himself to his feral mind.

Regina had to use her telepathy and mind control to sedate him, keep him still long enough for Killian to rip out his heart and shred it to pieces, effectively killing him and allowing Regina to let go.

She felt his life slip away as she locked onto his mind. He gained back a moment of control just before he passed, able to leave Regina with his final thought: _I wish I’d never been made like this._

It broke her heart, but she’d never related to anything more.

She’d saved her friends, as well as other members of society that could have suffered at the hands of the beast, but when his physiology returned to its human form, his last breath already escaped, all Regina could think was

 _I wish I’d never been made like this_.

She cried herself to sleep that night, wondering if any of this was worth it, or where her life might be if she had never used her powers the way she had those years ago.

Even now, ten years later, she tries to imagine how differently her life could have turned out. But she doesn’t regret it now. She’s hardened enough to belong, using her powers by her own volition and accepting that even if everything _could_ have been different, it’s just not.

It won’t be.

She nearly jumps when she opens her eyes, laid out across her bed in a moment of frustrated defeat, and sees Rumple in the doorway, his eyes pleading and serious. _What?_ She thinks to him.

“We need you,” he answers aloud.

Regina takes a breath in through her nose, shocked by the resounding siffle. She wipes the back of her hands at her cheeks, and they come back wet. She doesn’t let herself think about what it means.

“Give me a plan first.”

Rumple just grins.

* * *

 

Essentially, the plan is to raid the school.

Rumple explains that strength isn’t just in their powers, but in the number of their powers, and it isn’t as though having people on their side could _hurt._ The more people they have to utilize, the more this and all their other missions will be.

“Less dirty work for you,” Rumple snickers at Regina. “If that’s how you want to look at it.”

“What do we need from the school?”

“Let’s just say… it’s a lucky charm.”

Regina doesn’t know what that means, but she figures some luck wouldn’t hurt.

It all starts with them splitting up to find new people. “Magneto and the other two are looking for specific people, but he told me we should be seeking out new mutants while he’s gone.” It’s the first of that Regina’s heard, but she shrugs it off.

“I think I have a few ideas,” she says as she sets out to help build up the Brotherhood. She has to admit that she feels good about the whole thing, despite it being a directive by Rumple. More mutants means a little less focus on her powers, less objectifying her skills and being able to use everyone’s strengths a little more equally.

For their purpose, Rumple’s and Killian’s mutations are always handy, and Magneto’s strength goes beyond his metal manipulation. He’s not a leader for his mutation alone. As for Lily, Tink, and Daniel, their powers are strong but too… specific, reliant on circumstance to be useful which puts too much pressure on the rest of them. Whatever happens in the Brotherhood’s expansion, she hopes it’s for the best.

She’s after one person in particular when she finds another.

There’s no way for her to know who to talk to and who to ignore without using telepathy. If someone is a mutant and is in public, the chances that they’re thinking about it is likely. If someone slips up and reveals their powers, someone will be thinking about it, a bystander or the mutant themself, whether they speak up or not.

Reading through a group of minds is a process Regina has grown accustomed to. She doesn’t usually hear anything worthwhile, and if she does, she’s quick to dismiss it. It doesn’t feel invasive if she’s just skimming through minds, and unless she meets another telepath, no one is likely to know any better.

Right now, she’s in a shopping mall, scoping out the people as she she walks past, picking up voices within a certain range of her and trying to filter through the sound. Nothing stands out until she hears the same voice coming from two opposite directions. One is talking up a guy, in an effort to have him buy her something, the other is navigating through clothing racks trying to identify the best items to steal and get away with doing so.

Regina stops in place, trying to decide if she’s just hearing two similar voices or if they’re actually the same. How could they be the same? She’s about to move on, convinced her mind is just messing with her, when the same voice appears close to one of the others, concocting a plan for the carrier of the second voice to sneak out the back while she leaves from the front, rousing no suspicion from anyone who saw one of them enter. _Technically we’re the same person,_ she hears.

The brunette singles out the voice, holding onto it’s trail for as long as she can, and she’s so focused that she runs into someone just outside the store’s exit. She catches her before she can fall, and she doesn’t have to read the woman’s mind to know that this is one of the voices she’d overheard.

Her blue eyes widen in momentary panic, thinking she’s been caught stealing, and Regina has to mentally stop her from running. She hears the other two voices from before stop in shock. “I’m not going to hurt you,” Regina calmly explains. “I need your help.”

She lets her hold on the woman’s mind go, and in the same moment she does, the blonde yanks her arm back, huffing an offended breath. “You have no right to grab strangers like that,” she scowls. “Just who do you think you are?”

“My name’s Regina. I’m like you.”

The woman’s snorts, “Not likely.”

She turns away, and Regina lets her. She’s only a few steps away when Regina calls out to her telepathically. _I think you misunderstood me._ She can sense the woman’s irritation dissipate into something else. A blend of emotions that lose out to surprise.

“What did you say?” The blonde asks spinning around on the spot.

 _I didn’t_ say _anything_.

The woman’s jaw is slack as she takes cautious steps back to Regina. “What do you need my help for?”

She explains everything to the woman, Kathryn, she finds out, in the passenger seat of her car as they drive to her father’s house. “He’s a mutant too. Gold manipulation,” she smiles.

Regina snorts, “Is that how you have so much money?” Kathryn rolls her eyes. “So what about you? Self-spawn?” Kathryn gives her another smug smile. “I could hear you thinking in at least three places. How many times can you replicate yourself?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’ve never had a reason to count, but I’ve never found a limit, either.”

Regina hums in response. It’s an interesting mutation to say the least. Rumple should be pleased, especially if her father is willing to join them as well.

It turns out that Midas, Kathryn’s father, already knows all about the Brotherhood. “Erik and I go way back. Well, not _too_ far back, but our powers connected us back in the day. I had a chance to join, but Kate here was just a tiny thing, and she already had her mutation as a toddler. It was like being the parent to fifty children,” he laughs fondly.

“Dad, you’re embarrassing me.”

“What do you need us for?”

Regina takes a deep breath. “We’re trying to grow our numbers. We’ve lost a few over the years, mostly by choice, and we need to know there are people out there we can rely on.”

“Tell Erik he can always rely on me. As for Kathryn, she can make up her own mind about it. She hasn’t been around other mutants much, as I homeschooled her. I wasn’t about to send her to that man’s school,” he scowls at his own mention of Xavier.

Regina looks to Kathryn, an eyebrow raised. “I totally want to,” she nods.

So Regina leaves her to the address of their place. “Meet me there in a week, okay? We have plenty of space, so don’t worry about seeking out living arrangements unless you actually want to.”

 _Two at once_ , Regina smirks to herself as she leaves to continue her search, feeling more successful than Rumple probably is.

It’s the confidence she needs to seek out the person she had in mind when she initially set out. Not only someone from her past, but someone still living near the school, about an hour away, but  still, closer than she is.

When she knocks on the door of his apartment, she immediately wants to leave, afraid of what this is going to lead her to. She feels a familiar sinking feeling, but she stays strong.

Her eyes are on the ground when the door opens.

“Regina?”

“Hello, Neal.”

The only emotion she’s getting is surprise, and his face tells her just how accurate her reading is. “What are you… oh my god,” he laughs. “It’s been, what, ten years?”

“Eleven,” she corrects, hiding her wince behind a smile. Maybe this really wasn’t such a good idea.

“Eleven. Wow.” He laughs again, as awkward as ever. “Well, hey, care to come inside? I figure you’re not just here to say hi…”

“Really?” she asks as she follows him into the apartment.

“Yeah, no, you’ve got that serious look on your face. Like you mean business. You want something to drink? I’ve got, uh, well, water. Milk? Jack and coke? Just coke?”

“Whatever you’re having,” she answers, perching nervously on the couch, hoping he’s going to choose the alcohol. God knows she needs it.

“Jack and coke it is,” Neal grins. “So, what have you been up to? Anything interesting?”

“Uh, yeah, a few things,” she waves her hand noncommittally, glancing around his small apartment while he makes their drinks. “You don’t have a fireplace,” she points out.

Neal snorts, “Yeah, it’s weird, right? My apartment probably isn’t the most ideal place for someone pyrokinetic, but…” he shrugs as he trails off, taking a seat next to Regina, passing her a glass and taking a sip of his own.

Regina does the same. It’s strong. She takes another large sip before taking advantage of the easy in she’s been given. “You know, if you wanted to live somewhere with a fireplace, I’ve got you covered.”

Neal’s brow furrows. “What are you saying?”

“You still _use_ your power don’t you?”

In response, Neal raises his hand as he brings about a small flame, letting it dance between his fingers before extinguishing it. Regina can’t help but grin. As far as anyone she’s every known to have pyrokinetic abilities, Neal was the only one with the ability to conjure flames himself. Most others were limited to simple manipulation. She wasn’t sure he would want to join the Brotherhood, but she did want to try, even after everything that happened.

“Why?” Neal asks.

Regina all but downs the rest of her drink before answering. “I need you. Well, _we_ need you. We’re looking for other mutants for our assembly.” As she explains, she tries to follow his emotions, though they dip into territory too complicated for her to untangle.

“Who is _we_?” he asks, despite looking like he already knows the answer. She doesn’t give it to him, waiting for the inevitable. “You’re in the Brotherhood… aren’t you?”

It’s something she’s never been ashamed about, but now, sitting on Neal’s couch, she returns to the headspace where she wishes she were just… _somewhere else_ , like in another reality, another possibility that could change both of their circumstances, and maybe instead of two people with a grated past talking about Regina’s turn towards the darkness, they could be two friends making jokes.

“Regina, I can’t join the Brotherhood. You know I want to help you, but…” Neal stops talking then, biting his lip and looking away. Regina refuses to read Neal’s mind but she can’t help the read on his emotions.

_Love._

_Love?_

_He’s rejecting her offer for love?_

She tries to wrap her brain around that, but the next thing Regina knows, she’s pacing the small room, her head in her hands as it races through the possibilities it provides her with, though she can only focus on one.

Neal’s hands are reaching for hers, trying to ground her. “Regina, stop. It’s okay, I’m not going to judge you for joining the Brotherhood.” He misunderstands her panic.

She shakes her head, both relieved and dumbfounded that he doesn’t know what could possibly be going through her mind, even after…

“Do you still talk to Emma?” she finds herself asking, and he laughs in a way that gives away the answer.

“She was here yesterday,” he admits, and Regina wants to be sick. “Why?”

She doesn’t answer. She doesn't ask. She doesn’t read his mind, though she wants to. Without it she’ll never know who’s love he’s rejecting her offer for. It could be for Emma, it could be another… it could for _her_ , for fuck’s sake, but she almost feels like she doesn’t need to ask. She remembers enough of their past to…

“I should go.”

“Regina?” Neal reaches for her arm, but she pulls away.

“I’m sorry.”

“Regina, it’s okay…. I just… I don’t understand what you’re so upset about.”

She stops at the door, “Maybe that’s for the best.” She offers him a tight smile before slipping out the door and escaping down the hallway, not allowing her walls to drop until she’s out of range to hear Neal’s thoughts, out of the city, the distance between her and the school, the distance between her and Emma, her and everyone else, only growing wider, as she thinks it should be.

She doesn’t feel like looking for other mutants anymore.

* * *

 

Her return to their headquarters is days earlier than she anticipated.

Rumple isn’t set to return until the end of the week, and Lily and Tink are no help in assuaging Regina’s… whatever emotional funk this is.

“Cheer up. Jesus….” is Lily’s attempt. “You’re not gonna find anyone moping around like this, you know.”

Regina scowls at her. “I’m not trying to find anyone else.”

“What if I had a precognitive dream about--”

“You didn’t. So stop. Please. Before I mind control you both into silence.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Whatever,” Regina says, waiting for them to just leave the room, but they don’t. Lily just sprawls out on the other couch and turns on the TV. Tink goes to grab drinks while Regina makes a point to groan audibly enough that they can tell she’s irritated. It doesn’t stop them of course.

“You know,” Tink starts, dropping a can of beer in Regina’s lap, “Sometimes I wish _I_ were the one that could read minds so I could figure out what your problem was all the time.” Regina doesn’t even have a response to that.

“It’s Emma, obviously,” Lily smirks.

Her response to _that_ is to leave the room, wishing _she_ had the ability to teleport.

She pretty much hides out for the rest of the week, wondering what Rumple wants at the school and if it would be worth it to mind control someone on the inside to bring it to her before erasing their memories. Maybe David, as his absolute charisma would be a good shield if the professor were to notice anything unusual.

 _Is Robin still there_? If Regina knew for sure, Robin would be her first choice. Supernatural thievery goes a long way, and she’s pretty sure he’s teaching there. It was all he ever wanted to do after all, using his powers solely for good. If he weren’t so adamant about positive morality, Regina would try and acquire him to fight for their side instead.

Kathryn arrives at their place before Rumple does, and she doesn’t bring her father, so when there’s only one new person sitting with the three of them waiting for Rumple when he walks in with a small group behind them, he just stares at Regina for a long moment. “Are you serious?” he asks, a bothered expression covering his face.

The brunette in question just shrugs, nudging Kathryn until she realizes what Regina’s asking of her. “Oh!” she says before nodding, replicating herself around the room by at least twenty-five.

Rumple lets out a shrill giggle, but it disappears as quickly as Kathryn’s replications appeared. “Nice try, but she counts as one.” All of the blonde’s duplicates return to one. “I have  a few… but clearly you were less successful. You should have used your powers, maybe you could have won over some more.”

“I _could_ have, but I didn’t. Besides, Midas is Kathryn’s father. He counts as my second.”

Rumple just smiles passive aggressively at her. “Anyway, this is Ruel Ghorm, but you can call her Blue. Her mutation is invisibility. And I believe you know Merida from school,” Rumple says, gesturing at the redhead.

“Yes…” Regina nods slowly, more confused than anything. Merida had been Emma’s roommate, but she’d never suspected that she would ever join the side of darkness. “Supernatural speed, right?”

“That’s right,” Merida confirms.

“And then there’s Milah,” Rumple says, gesturing at the third woman. “She’d rather her powers remain a secret.”

Regina scoffs. “She knows I can just read her mind and find out, right?”

“And you know I’m standing right here, right?” Milah sasses back.

“Okay,” Regina says, her hands raised. “I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually, but I feel like keeping things from each other is only going to be our downfall… don’t you think?”

“No,” Milah answers.

“I wasn’t asking _you_ ,” Regina scoffs. _I hope whoever Erik finds is better than_ this. “So anyway, when are we doing this?”

As it turns out, Rumple already filled the newbies in on the plan on the return trip, so they’re going the next night. His plan only takes a short time to go over, and by the time they’re in New York and nearing the school, Regina kind of wishes this weren’t happening.

“What are we getting again?”

“Something important.”

Rolling her eyes, Regina moves on. “Why do I have to go in to get it and not, I don’t know, the _invisible_ one?”

“Because,” Rumple grits his teeth. “Whether you’ll use it or not, you’re a powerful telepath. If you get caught, you can get out of it easier than any of us could, and you have the ability to block yourself from Xavier’s own power.”

“I mean, it’s not _that_ effective, This plan still has a lot of flaws…”

“And that’s why we have backup. Now please remember that you need to be accessing my mind in order to know where to go. You’ll need to project your mind to me and open your sight up so I can see what you see, and so we can communicate. If you shut me out, I’ll assume you’ve failed and backup is going inside in your place. Understood?”

Regina nods, looking towards the school. She’d known about this for a long enough time to prepare herself for it, but now that it’s here, it feels like it’s catching her off guard. _Emma’s in there_ , she can’t help but think. She’s tempted to open her mind up to anyone within range just to see who she’s dealing with, but the risks of doing such a thing are too high, and she doesn’t want to deal with those consequences.

“We don’t have all night,” Rumple reminds her.

With that, she takes a deep breath and steps forward.

She’s able to keep her innermost thoughts to herself, only giving Rumple access to everything in her vision, and she offers him the same courtesy, their minds only connected enough that if he thinks aloud with the intent of communicating to her, she’ll hear it, but the rest can remain a secret.

He keeps quiet until she’s sneaking into the school, a passageway hidden off to the side that she’d learned about from Robin as a student. Luckily, it’s still there, though she wishes now that Rumple didn’t have to know about it. He hums as she sneaks in. “ _Interesting_ ,” and she ignores the comment with a roll of her eyes.

“ _Just get to the foyer and I can direct you from there_.”

 _Okay_ , she thinks.

She’s holding it together fairly well, all things considered, but at the same time, the lights are all off and she’s trying to move stealthily around and it’s so unlike how her days as a student were that it’s almost hard to feel nostalgic. (There was never any need to sneak around when your best friend could teleport, after all.) But when she reaches the student quarters, the same hallway that connected her room to Emma’s, the memories she had there stop her in her tracks.

“ _Keep walking_ ,” Rumple instructs, breaking her train of thought.

_How do you even know where to go? You’ve never even been in here...right?_

She can hear Rumple snort. “ _Blue snuck in last night. Got the layout.”_

Regina’s brow furrows. Then why is _she_ here now? She starts to ask him, _Why couldn’t--_ but he interrupts her with an abrupt command.

“ _That room_ ,” he says. “ _To your left_.” She turns and her heart lurches in her chest. She recognizes it as Aurora and Mulan’s old room, one of the few between where hers and Emma’s used to be. She wonders if students still occupy it, but they couldn’t… Not unless…

She opens the door as quietly as possible, relieved when it doesn’t creak, but the feeling is short lived when she sees the two beds on opposite sides, occupied by two small, sleeping figures. An almost inaudible gasp escapes her lips at the same time Rumple says, “ _The bed on the left._ ”

 _You…_ Regina freezes up only a few steps into the room, eyes locked on the sleeping boy, his peaceful face lit up just barely by the moonlight. _You didn’t tell me it was a student. That wasn’t part of the plan_ . She starts to back out of the room, the anger building in her chest. _Is that why you sent_ me _here? So I could... manipulate an innocent child?_

But she doesn’t want an answer. She isn’t going to use mind control on this boy, probably no older than nine, and she certainly isn’t going to kidnap him. She shuts Rumple out as she backs from the room, looking at the boy and wondering what his power could possibly be, what Rumple could want with him. She’d said she was being sent here after a _lucky charm_ . Did the boy have some kind of wish fulfillment powers? Was his power _literal_ luck?

If his power was to sway the odds in the favor of those near him, it must only be effective when he’s awake, because right now, standing in the dimly lit hallways of the school she had abandoned years ago in the middle of the night, completely alone to her thoughts, she doesn’t feel very lucky.

The panic is rising within her as she becomes hyper aware of all the small noises around her. The click of the air conditioning, the soft snoring coming from the next room, the sleepy breathing coming from one of the boys behind the open door, Regina’s own heartbeat thrumming in her ears, footsteps from around the corner…

_Footsteps?_

She’s about to read the mind of the one approaching, to gauge exactly where they are, who they are, how much time she has to escape, but all three are answered before she gets a chance. There’s a sharp inhale behind her, and she swears she can recognize Emma from just a single breath.

Her first reaction before turning around is to look for any signs of anger in the woman, but she comes up empty, finding nothing but shock until she turns to face her and Emma’s emotions become too complicated to discern.

“What are you doing here?” Emma whispers, sounding confused and almost… hopeful? But Regina’s fairly certain she’s imagining that, as well as the traces of longing and nostalgia Emma’s bundle of emotions is projecting.

“I…” Regina starts, but all words slip away. Her eyes are on Emma in a place they used to share, and it’s so easy to let her mind wander back to a better time, but it’s gone. Not just in the past, but _eleven years_ in the past, buried so deep under the mess of what dragged them down and drove them apart, and all Regina wants is to not be _here_. Maybe in this hallway, but not in this time. She wants everything to be fine, but even if she could turn back time, she’s sure it wouldn’t make a difference.

Emma’s eyes narrow as she looks from Regina to the only open door in the hallway, and the flash of alarm from the blonde is enough to stir Regina. She tries to take a steady breath, but it’s shaky and nervous.

“What are you up to?” Emma mutters, more to herself than to Regina, her eyes wandering back to the brunette. They land back on hers and Regina has a hard time holding them.

“I don’t know,” she admits.

Emma’s forehead wrinkles up in confusion, sensing that Regina is telling the truth. She looks as lost as Regina feels. “But…” She glances back to the room, squinting as if trying to figure out which one of them Regina had been sent to get and what the point of it all is.

“I wasn’t going to…” Regina tries to tell her, but she stops. Lie detector or not, Emma looks like she would doubt the brunette’s confession either way. Instead she whispers, even more quiet, “Please don’t let him know I’m here.”

The blonde shakes her head, like she wouldn’t dream of throwing Regina under the bus like that, and Regina lets out a small breath as the corners of Emma’s lips turn up _just slightly_. She’s almost smiling at Regina when she’s being knocked to the ground in the same moment, and Regina feels an intentional tap on her shoulder. When she realizes what happened, she’s glad she’s even still standing in the hallway at all.

Merida was the Plan B to Regina’s failed attempt.

The brunette moves to help Emma up, but she rejects her help, and the anger Regina had been dreading starts brewing, blending in with the shock and confusion until Emma is glaring at her like she sees red.

Emma _knows_ Merida. They were roommates in school. They were _friends_ , and she’s familiar enough with the redhead’s power to recognize that the she was the one knocking her to the ground. “What the _fuck?_ ” Emma hisses, gaping at Regina in a disgusted horror. “You…”

Regina can’t say anything, and she doesn’t need to read Emma’s mind to know that the blonde thinks Merida is a part of the Brotherhood, not by choice, but because Regina is holding her there, using mind control against her.

“I _can’t believe you._ She was _good_ , and you…” Emma is shaking her head, drifting in the space in front of Regina like she can’t decide if she wants to punch her or turn and walk away. “I guess some things never change.”

It hurts Regina so much, she’d rather Emma have punched her.

She thinks she ought to speak up. To tell Emma that she _isn’t_ mind controlling anyone and she isn’t planning to. If she can just get the words out, Emma will see the truth in them enough to find it in her eyes too.

But before she can open her mouth, Emma’s hand is in hers and her stomach is flipping. He squeezes her eyes shut, overwhelmed by the sensation, but she doesn’t think it can entirely be blamed on the teleporting.

As soon as her feet are firm on the ground, she opens her eyes. They’re in the foyer, and Emma is eyeing her cautiously, still gripping the brunette’s hand tight in her own as if worried she’s going to make a run for it. “Emma, I…” Regina pleads, but stops when Emma tears her eyes away.

There are footsteps coming from a few directions, and Regina shuts her eyes tight. This isn’t how she imagined facing everyone else after all these years. The steps stop, but no one says anything, and Regina just blocks everything. All thoughts, all emotions. She doesn’t want to know who is there or what they feel as their eyes land on her for the first time.

 _Regina_.

She squeezes her lids even more as if doing so could keep Xavier out of her mind, but she knows better. _Regina, can you tell me what you’re doing here?_

He’s giving her a choice, but he’s going to figure it out anyways. She doesn’t respond, and she can feel him moving through her thoughts, looking for the answer. She lets him.

 _Will or Jefferson?_ he asks.

_I don’t know. The one on the left. This wasn’t my idea--_

_But you’re here._ Her breath catches and Emma’s fingers twitch against her hand. _I have nothing more to say to you._ She can feel his disappointment without even trying to, and it’s everything she never wanted to happen, from the day she found out that he was a telepath too, using his powers for good. She fit in, and she had someone to look up to, someone she could trust more than Cora.

She opens her eyes and sees his first, unrelenting as they watch her and wait, for an explanation, a proper apology, a confession, but he knows it isn’t coming. One glance around the room is too much on top of it, some of them look angry, Logan and David and Ruby. Even _Granny_ looks angry. But others look at her with pity. Snow and Robin.

She closes her eyes again, all of this too much for her, and she wonders where the rest of her _loyal crew_ is. She’s never felt more alone than she does now, abandoned by the people who are supposed to be on her side, rejected by those she pushed away, and frustrated with herself for all of it.

 _I never wanted this._ Regina lets the thought form, and she sends it to Emma. _Please help me get out of here._ The blonde owes her nothing, but maybe…

She glances in Emma’s direction, almost startling when she sees green eyes looking at her like she hadn’t expected them to be. She’s still blocking as much of the room’s emotion as she can, but Emma’s is impossible to miss, written across her face and screaming through her veins.

 _Heartbreak_. Undeniably.

Regina breaks in response to the sight, and she tries to squeeze Emma’s hand, but it’s suddenly gone as the blonde disappears in an instant, fleeing from the room, denying Regina’s plea for help. The brunette can’t shake the thought that she deserves it.

 _Emma_ … she projects to her, knowing that she won’t get an answer. She isn’t going to enter her mind to find one, and calling out isn’t going to bring the blonde back. She wants to say something else, but there’s nothing that could make this better.

A giggle sounds through the room as the doors open, and Regina closes her eyes again with an audible sigh. “Regina, I was wondering what was taking you so long. I don’t mean to interrupt this… happy reunion, but we have plans.” With a harsh tug on Regina’s arm, Rumple leads her to the door with the ease of a trickster.

“We’ll be seeing you,” he sneers behind him into the room just before the doors close with a harsh slam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what do you guys think? i know it's angsty and i know it's confusing, but all will be revealed. do you think i should make a list of everyone's powers i've revealed so far? would that be helpful? 
> 
> thank you for reading <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter could be better, but it’s been three weeks and i am so sorry! I had this whole thing where i hated chapter two and i actually rewrote the entire thing to try and fix it, but in the end, i scrapped it. This chapter took more energy than it probably should have (lol speaking of energy, guess which part i was working on when the power went out in my apartment), but it’s here, and it’s really long, and so much stuff happens so i hope it’s not too chaotic lmao. 
> 
> tw: death

(Emma)

 

The last thing Emma feels as she teleports from the room is Regina’s hand in hers, and as if that wasn’t enough already, she had heard her voice in her head, pleading for help, and her emotions had betrayed her.

Of course they had.

She’s always vulnerable around Regina.

As soon as she’s alone in her room, everything seems to still, the space around her, her own heart as she still feels it breaking from that moment eleven years ago and again in that moment downstairs. Her mind doesn’t get the memo, continuing to race, and wondering _why_ Regina would expect help from Emma if she were guilty, why she would need rescuing when _she_ was the one breaking in.

She has so many questions, about the look in Regina’s eyes when she saw the hurt still lingering in Emma’s, if Regina doesn’t _want_ to read Emma’s mind or if she’s _afraid_ to, if Regina is afraid at all? The thoughts build and circulate on themselves, and by the time someone rescues her from them, she’s even less sure what to think than she was when she disappeared.

A part of her wonders if Regina will reach out, telepathically, continuing to plead with Emma, to let her know that she didn’t do anything, to make her _believe_ that she’s innocent, like Emma always had, but when she hears nothing, she thinks maybe Regina’s just too guilty to defend herself. But why had she been humiliated? Or is Emma reading too much into things, trying to give her the benefit of the doubt?

The door to her room pushes open, and the blonde doesn’t know who it’s going to be, but she breathes a sigh of relief when she sees that it’s Mary Margaret, a curious reaction since the woman is usually the last person people want to see in the throes of an emotional collapse. Mary Margaret looks surprised.

“Can I come in?” Emma nods, and Mary Margaret walks into the room with trepidatious steps before perching on the bed. The blonde follows her motion, taking a seat next to her. “Are you okay?” She whispers after a long silence.

Emma snorts, “You don’t need to ask that.”

“No, but I did.” Emma tears her eyes away. She’s always vulnerable around Mary Margaret too. She knows it’s a matter of powers, but that doesn’t stop her from asking the question _what if it’s me_? “Emma, I may know what you’re feeling, but that doesn’t mean I always understand it. If you need someone to talk to… I won’t push. I won’t bring up any feelings you have without your verbal acknowledgement of them, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Emma nods.

She isn’t sure she should open up about the mind control issue, but when she considers it, she realizes that _something_ had to have happened. Merida didn’t just rush in to knock her over, unless it was a move to solidify any guilt that Regina may be carrying. So, why?

Mary Margaret’s brows furrow, but she doesn’t ask about the sudden dread filling the room. She doesn’t need to because suddenly August is knocking at her door, poking his head in. Mary Margaret looks even more uncomfortable surrounded by what Emma feels safe assuming are even more negative emotions. “What now?”

“They took Will.”

* * *

 

It’s the middle of the night, but time is irrelevant now that they know that the Brotherhood is an active threat and has kidnapped one of their own, and not just anyone but a student. Will is only nine.

“Do we need to send everyone else home?” Mary Margaret asks, the children being her first concern. “We can protect them well enough if all our energy is directed to them, but clearly it won’t be if we need to fight.”

“Yes, I think it might be for the best, especially because we already know the Brotherhood has no reliable way to find mutants, especially not young ones. For those that have homes, parents… they would be safer with them. We can worry about that tomorrow.”

“What about tonight?” August asks. “Is there anything we can do?”

“We need to make a plan. We can’t go into this blind. Does anyone have any insight?” His eyes fall to Emma, and she looks away.

“They’re definitely up to something, specifically taking Will.”

Emma nods in agreement. She’s a little relieved, though she won’t admit it out loud. Chances are, they took Will because they don’t understand his power and think it means something different for them. Not to mention, he hasn’t learned to actually _use_ it yet.

Everyone else seems to be thinking along the same lines. “We just need to get the upper hand. If we do, and the odds are in our favor, we’ll win. They won’t. Will’s probability manipulation is underdeveloped,” Xavier says. “Right now, his existence just gives a better to chance to those that already have it. He won’t be useful to them unless they really do have a chance.”

“So, besides Will’s safety, we don’t have much to worry about directly right? As long as their chances of succeeding aren’t good…”

Emma scoffs, “If Regina isn’t holding back, their chances probably _are_ good…”

“Emma…” Xavier warns.

“No, she had her chances,” Emma snaps. “I can’t…” she tries to tell them that she can’t offer any more, that they need to give up on her and assume the worst, but the words don’t come out. She shakes her head in frustration, hoping that no one else sees it as defeat.

Years later and she still can’t give up on Regina.

“We need a plan…” David changes the subject, groaning into his hands. “A good one.”

They know a little bit already, some of the mutants Magneto has on his side and what some of their powers are. Magneto and his metal manipulation. Regina and her telepathy and mind control. Lily with her wings. Tink with her precognition. Killian with his dark form and darkness manipulation. Rumple the trickster.

“What’s the other guy? I can’t remember. Was his name David too?”

“No,” David scoffs. “Daniel. And I don’t remember. It was something creepy. Necromancy, maybe?”

“That sounds right,” Robin says. “But how did they get Will out without us knowing? Clearly they’ve expanded…”

All eyes slowly turn to Emma, and she sighs before conceding. “Merida. She was there.”

“You saw her?”

Emma shoots August a look, “No, dummy. She has super speed. _No one_ saw her. That’s how she must have gotten Will out.” August shrugs innocently. “But I think… I think she’s being manipulated.”

“By Regina?”

Emma’s answer is a long silence. Snow rests a hand over Emma’s, but she pulls it away. She didn’t think Regina was going to manipulate Will, and she said as much to Emma, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t stoop low enough to manipulate people to stay in the Brotherhood. And if she was willing to do something like that, she would probably be willing to read her mind as well.

 _I’ve really got to stop thinking so much,_ Emma thinks to herself. “Maybe we need a way to protect our thoughts,” she suggests out loud.

“You know I can only do so much,” Xavier sighs. “I know your main concern may be Regina, but this is bigger than that, Emma.” The blonde frowns bitterly, crossing her arms over her chest and trying not to think, just in case.

“Speaking of _bigger_ ,” Ruby starts, “It sounds like they have more people on their side. We need more on our side. We can reconvene when we’ve gotten some sleep, our students are safe, and we have more people on our side. We can use Cerebro to find people, and split up to talk to them, bring some people back.”

“The morally correct way…” Emma mutters. Robin chuckles. _That’s all I have to say about that._

So they sleep, as much as they can anyway, and they round up all the students to tell them they’ll be going home for a little while. A group of them call parents to give them a heads up, and then Emma teleports them home as the parents receive word of what’s happening. The students that don’t have homes stay in Granny’s care, in her home away from the school.

It’s a day long task, but it gives them enough time to plan for the next step, going after some of their former friends. Xavier had been in Cerebro for a brief time, getting the locations of some mutants he think might be willing to help, and now they were deciding who would go to who.

“Emma could just do all of them, since she can teleport.”

“Yeah, right,” August laughs. “You’ve seen her people skills. Or rather, her lack thereof…” Emma rolls her eyes, but doesn’t defend herself. She’d rather not give them more reason to nominate her for the job.

In the end, it doesn’t even benefit her.

“Emma should go get Neal,” David suggests, and because it’s _David_ , everyone nods in agreement.

“What? Why?” Emma asks, sitting straight up, her eyes wide.

He shrugs, “You were friends with him. Weren’t you over there the other day?”

Emma gapes at him. _Does he not remember what happened? Or know that they don’t_ actually _talk anymore?_ She glances at Mary Margaret, because she knows, but when the other woman avoids her gaze, Emma gets it. She made Emma a promise, and while not bringing up Emma’s buried emotions is _great_ , right now, it’s just unfortunate.

“Why can’t Robin do it? He and Neal were roommates.”

“I’m going to find Marian and Belle,” Robin explains.

“Okay, so what about August? Can't he go?”

“Yeah, sorry. I'm going with Robin.” Emma throws her hands up in the air, letting them fall back down against her legs in a hard slap of defeat.

After a beat of the blonde saying nothing in response, David speaks again. “Emma, please…” He has that stupid look on his face that no one can say no to, and Emma scowls.

“This was supposed to be a non corrupt, mutation free mission,” she mumbles. David can only shrug. “You know, what? _Fine_. I’ll do it.”

They all have a week to return, with or without whoever they went to talk to, and Emma waits until day seven, procrastinating as long as possible before reluctantly teleporting to Neal’s apartment.

She’d been over here just over a week ago, which _of course_ David had to point out, but it had been a one minute interaction, picking something up for Logan. She’d only gone because she could _teleport_ and even though Neal still lives in the _same state as the rest of them_ , she agreed to help.

They’d shared a hello that wasn’t _cold_ but definitely wasn’t _warm_ , and she’d made a point to stop frowning for at least one second. He, on the other hand, smiled wider for longer, and Emma couldn’t tell if he’d forgotten or if he thought having healing powers made her more forgiving.

Now she’s standing in front of his door, not smiling exactly, maybe _grimacing_ , and when he opens the door, he smiles, misunderstanding. “Emma, hey! You’re back.”

“Uh-huh,” she says, sliding through the door as he gestures for her to enter.

“Want anything to drink?”

“No… you know what they say, don’t drink and teleport.”

Neal chuckles, “I’m pretty sure nobody says that, and also I’m even more sure that you’ve done that before.” Emma shrugs. “I’ll get you some water.”

She watches him as he walks the few paces to the kitchen, and it’s weird how much the other night with Regina had seemed to change everything. After everything that went down, she’d always harbored the same resentment towards Neal that she had Regina, more or less. They weren’t guilty of the same thing, but they were close enough that Emma felt her feelings on it were warranted; however, now that she’s sure Regina is using mind control against her friends just to have the upper hand, Neal seems easier to forgive, especially if Regina’s use of mind control on the people in her life isn’t new, and Neal had been a victim to it years ago…

“Emma?” She blinks as she snaps back to the present, suddenly feeling guilty for holding so much against him, even now, standing in his apartment to ask for his help. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she says, sounding less fine than she hoped she would.

He regards her for a moment, his eyes narrowing, though not in suspicion, and when they soften, Emma looks to the window. “Is this about… what happened?” he finishes. If it wasn’t about that, Emma would have thought his words were too vague to discern, but as it happens…

“Yeah,” she mumbles, not elaborating.

Neal shakes his head. “We were just kids, you know? I’m not saying that’s an excuse for what happened… what we-- what _I_ did,” he corrects, “But I don’t think any of us knew what we were doing, or the kind of impact it could have. That even when you’re so focussed on one person, other people can get hurt…”

“Other people _did_ get hurt.” It comes out angry. She glances back at Neal, shaking his head apologetically.

“I’m sorry, Emma. I wish--”

“It’s fine,” she interrupts. “I’m sorry too. I guess I’m really good at holding grudges.”

Neal gives a small shrug. “It happens. We kind of deserve it.” Emma winces at the choice of pronoun and everything it implies, but he doesn’t notice. “You should forgive Regina too, you know.”

Emma snorts, “Yeah, about that…” she starts. She isn’t sure how to best say _Regina’s a villain now and might show up here to mind control you (maybe again?) to get you on her side and against me (again)_ , but before she can start rephrasing it as she goes, Neal speaks up.

“Oh! I forgot to tell you. She was actually here the other week.”

Emma’s heart sinks into her stomach. “She was?” she asks weakly.

“Yeah, she wanted me to help her. But it would have meant joining the Brotherhood, so I turned her down.”

Emma blinks in surprise. “You did?” she asks, though she wants to ask _you could_? If Regina didn’t mind control him to join… does that mean she’s innocent? Emma thinks back to Regina’s plea to leave the scrutiny of her former classmates and friends, the way she told Emma she didn’t know what she was up to, the way she started to say she wasn’t planning on kidnapping Will with mind control…

“She asked about you,” Neal says, sounding unsure with sharing the information.

“She did?” And Emma can’t even begin to think about what _that_ means.

Neal nods, watching her, waiting for her to comment further, but when she doesn’t, he moves on. “What brings you here, anyway? I’m guessing it wasn’t to apologize,” he offers a weak laugh that Emma doesn’t reciprocate.

“I guess… the same reason as Regina, more or less. Only I’m not with the Brotherhood. We’re actually kind of… against them? I saw Regina last week, when she was breaking into the school.” Neal’s eyes widen. “And Merida was there. And that guy Rumple. I don’t know, who else was there, but the Brotherhood is definitely growing, and they kidnapped a student--”

“They _what_?”

“Yeah, we think he’s going to be _okay_ , like, they aren’t going to kill him, so we do need to go after him, and if they’re up to something, we need to stop it.” Neal nods firmly in agreement. “So I’m here to ask you to join us.”

“And us is…?”

“I guess Xavier is reassembling the X-Men.” Emma can almost literally see the fire in Neal’s eyes. She grins at him. “It’s everyone still at the school, really. Xavier, Logan, and me. Mary Margaret and David. Robin, August, Elsa, and Ruby. We’re trying to get some others back… and _you_. If you want to help us, that is.”

“Yeah! Yes,” Neal nods, completely enthused. “I’ll help.”

Emma releases a breath of relief. “Okay. Okay, good.” It strikes her in that moment, how weird it is that Neal is choosing her over Regina, but she doesn’t dwell on it, nor does she go back to wondering why Regina didn’t manipulate Neal to join her side. “So, no offense, but why are _you_ here, and not--”

“Robin?” Emma offers with a shrug. “I don’t know. Weird, right?”

“Yeah, you know, or anyone else?”

Emma barks out a laugh, “Oh, you just didn’t want to see me either, I see how it is.”

“No, I just…” Neal trails off with a nervous laugh.

The phone rings before Emma can ask what he’s talking about, and she doesn’t even remember to ask when she hangs up. Ruby was nearly frantic, _Emma, where_ are _you? Come back ASAP._

“We have to go,” she says. “Do you need anything first or can we…?”

He shakes his head. “I can just come back if I do. It sounds important.”

“It is,” Emma says, grabbing Neal’s hand, and then they’re gone, in his apartment one second and in the school’s conference room the next, staring out at more people than Emma remembers being here when she’d left. She thinks the numbers prove they’ve been successful, but everyone’s troubled expressions say otherwise. She drops Neal’s hand immediately.

“What first?” Logan asks with a grimace. “Good news or bad news?”

“Good?” Emma answers, taking a seat, glancing around at everyone. “I can start if you want. Neal’s here,” she gestures next to her, and he gives a little wave. “Everything’s fine with uh… stuff,” she says, mostly to Mary Margaret, who looks like she’s drowning in the emotions of a crowded room.

“Thanks for getting him,” David tells her with a smile. “Well, as you can see, me and Snow found Ariel.” Emma offers the woman a smile. “Robin and August came back today with Belle and Marian. Archie is on his way to help Granny look after the students, and Xavier called Merlin, so he should be here this week. So our team is exponentially larger and more powerful.

“But…?” Emma starts, eyes drifting to Ruby, looking more than a little frantic next to Mulan, a solemn look on her face, lips turned into a despaired frown.

“But…” Mulan starts, “The Brotherhood has taken some of ours. We think… they’re being controlled.”

Emma’s breath catches in her throat. “Like Merida?” _But not like Neal?_ “Do you think Regina…?” But she doesn’t finish her sentence.

Ruby shakes her head, “I don’t know.”

“Who else--?” The blonde starts to ask, but she thinks she already knows. “Graham?” Ruby’s answer is a dry sob, and Mulan sets a hand on her arm.

“And Aurora,” Mulan adds.

Ruby takes a deep breath, wiping her eyes before telling the story. “Okay, so you know how Graham and I always got along really well, and his faunal communication gave us a connection when I took on wolfwere physiology? We’ve always been able to find each other, or communicate, or channel the same wavelength and be on the same page. I was so sure that having him join us would be the easiest, but when I set out to look for him, I couldn’t connect to him at all. Not in this form, not in wolf form, and it scared me. I thought he was _dead_ . Now I know that he can turn off his animal telepathy, like Regina’s telepathy. They don’t _have_ to be in any mind, but they can be if they choose to be.”

Emma looks away at the mention of Regina, and Ruby gives her a sympathetic look before continuing. “He’s alway there when I’m in wolf form. We don’t shut each other out. He’s one of my best friends, and when I tried to find him and couldn’t…” she trails off with a shudder. “But if he was dead, I think I would know.”

“So then what’s wrong?” Emma asks, “Where is he?”

“I think he’s on _their_ side. I think that’s why he shut me out.”

“And you think he’s being manipulated? What do they need him for?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” August says. “They must have some kind of animal on their side, or something they would need his help to control.”

Emma’s brow furrows, trying to think about what _that_ has to with anything, but everyone falls silent, not continuing to theorize, and it makes Emma worry. “Okay, so that’s not _all_ the bad news… is it?”

Mulan sighs, “Unfortunately not. Aurora’s missing,” she says after a beat. “It was actually _this week_ that she fell out of contact. We went by her place yesterday, and she clearly hadn’t been there in the past few days. We don’t know what, but something is _wrong_.”

Emma squeezes her eyes shut, trying to block out the room to think. None if this makes sense. She hears Xavier say something about Magneto being too organized for all this unpredictability, and Emma would say the same about Regina.

“Well, aren’t there other mutants in the Brotherhood that Magneto gives power to? What if they’re planning something behind his back?”

Logan snorts, “Idiots.”

They’re at a loss, and until something happens, it’s clear that they’re no closer to figuring out what’s going on. “Okay, but…” Neal starts slowly, all eyes turning to him. “We’re in a room full of mutants and none of us can figure out _anything_ ? I know we might not be able to get _all_ the answers, but we’re all useful enough to try, even if we have to wing it.”

“Merlin’s coming, right? That will be helpful. He can make a forcefield can’t he? So they can’t break in again, physically or mentally?”

Xavier nods, “Yes, but at a cost, Cerebro won’t work. And our powers will be ineffective in certain places so long as he’s wielding it. The more powerful the forcefield, the more energy he’ll need to manipulate.”

“Maybe I could be a double agent?” Belle speaks up. “As long as they don’t know I’m here, depending on who’s on their side, I might be able to earn their trust. If I can get in, we can learn a lot about what they’re up to, and they won’t be suspicious of me. I think there’s a good chance I can earn their trust.”

“You and Regina got along really well, right? That could work.”

Emma nods, remembering the two bonding. When Regina had a hard time controlling her powers, blocking out thoughts, she would run from Emma, afraid to betray her and break her promise, even accidentally. She and Belle would leave the school, walking out of range of anyone’s thoughts.

Regina liked Belle because she had a psychic shadow. Regina couldn’t read her mind even if she wanted to. Belle’s panmnesia was as overwhelming to her as Regina’s found her own sometime, and it was something the two bonded over. They had never been best friends or anything, but it would be enough for Belle to pose as a spy, if she was willing to go against Regina.

“That could work,” David grins.

“And of course, if we need an army… if we needed to fight, we’ve got a great team,” August points out, ginning at Neal. “Literal fire power.”

Mulan snorts, “Yeah, fire boy is great, but if we’re talking about fighting, I think I win.”

“Mhmm,” Neal teases.

“Don’t make me flip this table with just one finger… I can, and I will.”

“Okay, okay, we got it. You’re super strong. MVP in a fight.”

“Don’t forget the innate combat,” Emma chuckles. “You better watch what you say, Neal. Fire or not, she’ll kick your ass.”

For the first time since they all gathered there, the mood is light, but it’s short lived. Elsa returns alone, with only a grim look on her face. “More bad news?” David asks, uneasy.

She shrugs, “It might be okay. My mother has a powerful mutation. As you know, where my cryokinesis is lacking, her ice magic prevails, but she’s… insane.”

“What gave you that idea?” Ariel asks, “The fact that she homeschooled you for most of your life or the time she thought you didn’t have magic and threw you into a lake?”

“Ha ha,” Elsa fake laughs at her friend. “Okay, no, but I asked for her help, and she started telling me about a bigger and better force rising. I don’t think we need to worry about any bigger evil because she has no precognitive abilities, but I do think we need to be worried about her joining the Brotherhood. I’m not sure if she thinks they’re better, but that could have been what she meant.”

“What if there _is_ a bigger force?” Mary Margaret warily asks.

“Then _we’ll_ be a bigger force,” a new voice answers from the doorway. “Pun intended,” Merlin laughs.

* * *

 

The forcefield gets raised with no problem, but it’s weird being within a space where powers are negated, the energy of their powers being manipulated into what some of them thinks is a greater protection, but Emma thinks is somehow more dangerous, though Robin thinks she’s just being melodramatic.

“Emma, it’s just a papercut,” he laughs, and the blonde gapes at him.

“Robin, I’m _bleeding_ . This is _serious_.”

“Haven’t you been shot before? In the _chest_?”

“That’s not the same! But thanks for that, what if I get shot in this forcefield? How am I gonna survive if I can’t even heal a papercut!”

“Welcome to my world,” Robin laughs, but Emma isn’t amused. A few other people join in and just when Emma thought it couldn’t get any worse, she can’t even teleport away. She makes a fool out of herself storming from the room, but she slams the door behind her because she never gets the opportunity.

Mary Margaret jumps, sitting in the room on the other side. “Sorry, didn’t know you were in here.”

“It’s fine,” she says as Emma collapses on the couch next to her. “Are you okay?” Emma glances over at her friend, who’s looking at her with a confused concern, and it takes her a moment to realize that Mary Margaret is _actually_ asking her, not hust to open up a conversation, but because she doesn’t _know_.

“You must really like this forcefield situation, huh?”

Mary Margaret smiles, “It’s like a weight off my shoulders, really. I love my empathy, I really do, but it’s so hard to control. I can’t turn it off like Xavier can his thoughts or like Logan can bring out his claws or choose to keep them in. It’s like David, always having absolute charisma or you always having healing.”

Emma scoffs, holding up her band aid covered finger, “This sucks.” Mary Margaret laughs at her and Emma pouts in response. “Not you too.”

“Makes you realize how privileged you are doesn’t it? Suddenly having it all stripped away. David has it bad. He can always get whatever he wants, for the most part, but with his powers gone, he’s just a normal guy. You know he never takes advantage of his charisma, but it’s absence is making him realize how easy he has it.”

“And for you it’s the opposite? You see how everyone else has it easier, without the burden of what everyone else feels?”

The other woman shrugs, “Maybe I see both sides. I’m lucky to have my power, even when it’s difficult. I’m sure you understand that, with the lie detection. Sometimes hearing the truth can be hard, but hearing someone lie to you can be even harder.”

Emma laughs. She hadn’t even thought about that. “I can lie under the forcefield.”

“But you won’t.”

“Of course not,” Emma snickers. “I hate this, but it _is_ kind of fun. Mulan couldn’t open a jar of peanut butter earlier. She had to ask Marian to help her. It was so hilarious, so I guess I deserve her laughing at me for the papercut.”

It’s only moments later when the forcefield drops, and Emma triumphantly rips off the band-aid, but the look on Mary Margaret’s face is enough to drop Emma’s spirits. Xavier’s voice rings through their minds telling them to meet him in the conference room _and someone tell Belle, please_. The shield goes back up, just as Emma is in mid teleport to Belle’s room, and she ends up crashing to the ground just outside the door.

She’s still whining about how she can’t heal the now forming bruise when they walk into the conference room moments later, and Xavier smirks. _Emma, you can use your powers in here._

“Oh,” she says, plopping down into a chair, no longer worried about injuring herself further. Mary Margaret shakes her head at her, fighting back a laugh.

“So what’s going on?”

“Suspicious activity,” Xavier says, switching on the news. “There’s a total blackout in Midtown. As you can imagine, everything is in chaos, and they’re working on identifying and fixing the issue.” He stops talking, and everyone turns their attention to the TV, watching as the reporter discusses the dilemma.

“No one knows what’s causing it.”

“But _we_ do…” Emma says, slowly catching on. “Killian.”

They can only suspect it’s him, but with no logical answers for a blackout combined with a declared mutant enemy the power of darkness manipulation, not much other logic is required. As far as motive goes, they have no idea, unless it’s some kind of lure, or just a means to get their attention, but something about it doesn’t sit right with Emma.

“Is it just me or does all of this seem… chaotic?” Emma asks as they drive towards the city.

“I mean, yeah, it’s a blackout,” Ruby answers.

“No, I don’t mean this specifically, I mean… all of it. Nothing they’re doing is really… cohesive.” She thinks again back to Regina’s lost expression. ( _I don’t know_ , she admitted looking between Emma and the open door where Will still lay sleeping.) “Maybe I’m just imagining things,” she shrugs, dismissing the idea that the Brotherhood could be divided. Maybe she just wants to believe that Regina is innocent.

When they get inside the city, they stop in a parking garage close enough for Emma to teleport them all, but far enough away that they don’t get caught up in the chaos. “He’s probably in the midst of it all somewhere. I think he can only manipulate darkness around him, like how Merlin can only manipulate energy around him.”

“Yeah that sounds right, but _where_?”

“If he wants us to show up for his message, I think I know where he might be,” Emma says, getting herself in position. She’s in the middle, David with his night vision one side, Ruby on her other. Neal is on one end so he can conjure fire in the darkness, Mulan on the other end in a protective stance. Elsa stands between David and Mulan so her ice doesn’t mess with Neal’s fire, which puts August between Ruby and Neal. When Emma gets the nod from everyone, she thinks of the place she wants to go, and they’re gone.

It’s about an eight mile teleport, which is usually nothing for Emma, but with six other people, she’s dizzy when she lands, barely managing to retain a standing position. Everyone else falls to the ground, not used to the method of travel at all, and as they climb back to their feet, Emma listens for any signs that they aren’t alone in the room. She’s hoping for a snicker or a rude passing comment, but when she hears a low growl instead, she scrambles to help everyone up faster, needing a more specific read on what’s happening.

David sucks in a harsh breath as soon as he stands up. “Ruby…” and then there’s another growl, softer than the first to her immediate right followed by a gentle brush of fur against her hand. Emma runs her hand along Ruby’s back waiting for Neal to help light the room.

“Where are we?” Elsa whispers, and as she does, the area around them is dimly lit, enough for them to see each other, but not enough to see anyone else.

“Emma, are you serious?” Neal says, gaping in her direction before looking back at the space he can actually see. “Madison Square Garden? Do you really think they’re actually in here?”

His answer is a louder growl, footsteps towards them, and a hollow laugh from someone Emma can only presume is Killian.

“David, how many are here?” she whispers.

“Six,” he answers, his voice shaky, “But Emma, you’ll never bel--”

She’s knocked to the ground before she can hear the rest of his sentence. She hears Ruby’s loud snarl and feels the wind rushing past her as the wolf lunges forward. There are violent, thrashing growls covering up every other noise, Mulan’s shouts as she attacks, the crackling of fire, and a few hisses of pain, and there’s enough light in front of her for a moment to see a hand outstretched towards her. She takes it without thinking and gets pulled in, an unfamiliar voice suddenly in her ear, “Consider this a message.”

“What are you talking about?” Emma says back to the man, leaning away from him as best as she can, but his grip on her arm is tight.

“This is bigger than you think it is. We will do whatever it takes to win. And we will win.”

“I don’t think so,” Emma growls, “You don’t know what we’re about. Who we are. The Brotherhood doesn’t stand a chance.”

The man cackles, “That’s where you’re wrong. This has nothing to do with the Brotherhood.” At the admission, Emma exhales, shoved back to the ground just after. A knee comes to rest on her chest and she struggles against it for a moment before she tries to teleport, but she can’t.

“What…”

Someone’s hand is gripping hers, too small to belong to the main, and it makes sense when another voice says, “Daniel, you can go. I’ll take it from here.”

Emma’s brow furrows. The voice is familiar, but she can’t place it. She tries to get up again, maybe even teleport to her feet, but she can’t do either. “What’s going on?”

“Hello, Emma. Long time.”

“What are you doing to me?”

The woman laughs, “Just using my mutation. I finally figured out how to use it properly. Weakness embodiment doesn’t mean that I’m weak, it means that everyone else is.”

Emma’s eyes go wide, “No way.”

Aurora laughs, “You’ve got in now don’t you? Bet you thought I would never use my powers again after what happened to Phillip, but now that he’s back--”

“Back?” Emma gasps out. With the pressure of Aurora’s knee pressed into her chest and the way her strength feels like it’s slowly draining from every limb in her body, it’s becoming harder and harder to breathe.

Aurora just laughs, and Emma swallows, listening to everyone else fighting some meters away. She can hear Ruby’s growls become overshadowed something almost demonic, lit up by momentary fireballs crashing against it’s skin, and Emma shudders when she catches a decent glimpse of it, towering over Ruby’s wolf form, looking like some kind of mangled, monstrous dog, teeth sharp as they sink into her shoulder.

“No!” David shouts, and it stops the beast for a moment until it bats at David with a large paw, sending him falling to the ground.

Emma’s attention is brought back to the woman crouched over her when she feels something sharp and cool against her neck, and she lets out a hiss when she feels the knife cutting her skin just above her shirt collar, moving down towards her heart. The blade is just brushing against the surface, but there’s no telling how Aurora’s weakness embodiment will affect the wound if Emma can’t use any of her powers.

“You’re lucky I’m keeping you awake,” she says, and the knife cuts just a little deeper. Emma whimpers just as she feels the weight knocked off of her, and she’s able to stand.

She feels another hand in hers and is immediately relieved when she hears Mulan’s voice, “She’s knocked out for now, but we need to hurry. If we get everyone together, can you teleport us back?”

“To the school?”

“I know it’s far Emma, but some of them are in really bad shape.”

She wants to argue against it, thinking going to the car would be good enough and smarter considering that _she’s_ in bad shape too, but as bad as her injuries are, she can already feel them healing. “Okay, how do we do this?”

It takes more fighting, more hits, and more time, eventually the hellhound or _whatever the fuck_ it is, gets called off, and once it does, the rest of the team disappears too. Emma is too dizzy to pay attention to where they go, but eventually the sound of their footsteps is untraceable, and all she’s left with are pained gasped and cries.

“Neal? Can you--” She stops when he’s suddenly next to her, lighting up the space. “David? Where are you? We need everyone in the same place so I can…” David takes her hand and leads her around to the others. She doesn’t feel strong enough to teleport all the way back to the school, but from what she gathers from the state of her friends, physically and emotionally, it’s worth the risk.

They hit the ground outside the school harder than they had when they arrived in the arena, and Emma is certain she wouldn’t be conscious if she didn’t have healing powers, though she does think there are traces of Aurora’s weakness embodiment affecting her still because the healing process is moving so slow she almost doubts it’s working.

She manages to call Xavier, and the rest of the X-Men rush out to help them inside. Emma clings to Belle as she leads her inside to the medical ward. “We need to drop the forcefield,” Emma says, wincing as she’s laid down on a bed. “If I can heal myself fast enough, I can help with everyone else too.”

“You’ve lost more blood than you think, kid,” Logan tells her. “Don’t worry about everyone else, alright?”

“But I should be able to do this,” she says, stubbornly trying to fight it.

“Don’t make me put you to sleep,” Logan jokes, and it’s the last thing she hears before she blacks out, overwhelmed with the memory of Aurora fighting opposite them and a feral canine demon whose existence terrifies her more in theory than anything else.

* * *

 

 _“Emma,_ please _, you’ve got to help us sneak out. Just for the night,” Aurora pleaded with her. She and Phillip were dating (or at least Emma thought they were) but they never really did much to act like it, besides holding hands. They’d never been_ out _, which is what this whole thing was about._

_“Why me? You know Robin’s pretty sneaky. I mean maybe with you guys he’d get caught… But then you could ask Merida? Okay, but I guess she can’t run with both of you…”_

_“See! You’re the best person to ask. You can be gone and back in just a second and no one will know any better. We just have to make sure Xavier doesn’t notice or we’d do it ourselves.”_

_Emma sighed. “Why can’t Mulan just distract him for you?”_

_The other girl became nervous at the mention of her roommate, looking away from Emma as she wrung her hands together. “She doesn’t know.”_

_“But she’s your best friend, right? So why don’t you just--”_

_“Emma, come on,” Aurora says, her eyes wide and emotional as they meet Emma’s once again. “You of all people should know what it’s like to keep something like this from your best friend.”_

_The blonde sucks in a breath, “That’s not, like, a threat, right? You’re not going to tell her…?”_

_“Do you really think I would betray you like that? And besides, I’m surprised you haven’t told her yourself. Isn’t it like, impossible for you to lie?”_

_Emma snorts, “This is different. Holding back the truth isn’t the same thing as telling a lie, and just because everything I say comes out true, doesn’t mean I have to say anything at all. Regina could ask me up front, and all I would need to do is refuse to answer.”_

_“_ Anyways _, can you help me out?”_

_“I’ll think about it.” Emma thought about it. “Hey, wait, I have an idea…”_

_Aurora rolled her eyes. “It’s only been like, two seconds. I’d hardly call that thinking.”_

_With a frown, Emma huffed, “Hey, it’s a good idea. Just hear me out._ What if _we organized something here, like all the other schools have. A dance or something. Then you guys could have your fun date, everyone else can have a good time, and no one will get in trouble for sneaking around. Cause you know how risky that is...”_

_Aurora’s eyes narrowed in thought. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But…” she trails off, anxious again. “Everyone will know.”_

_“I’m pretty sure everyone does know,” Emma said with a snort._

_“Okay, I’ll do it, but I have an ultimatum for you.” The blonde fought back a groan. There was only a few directions this could go… “You have to ask Regina to be your date,” … and that was one of them._

_“No. No way.”_

_“Then we’re not having a dance, and you’re gonna have to help us sneak out.” Aurora smirked like she already knew she’d won. She had. Emma didn’t have to imply anything_ date-like _about going with Regina, she just needed to go with her. “And you’ll plan it with me.”_

_Emma gaped at her, “I’m not gonna plan a dance!”_

_“Why not? It was_ your _idea, after all. Besides, who else is gonna do it? Logan?”_

 _“Fine.” With a roll of her eyes she sulked towards Xavier’s office and knocked on the doorframe. He smiled at her when he looked up, gesturing for her to come in, and when she blurted out the words, “I wanna have a dance,” he smiled knowingly, and it took her a minute to realize that she’d just confessed to actually_ wanting _the event. She scowled. “Aurora…”_ came up with it _. “Aurora… led me to come up with the idea.” Xavier just chuckles at her. “She wanted me to sneak her and Phillip out, and I wasn’t having it! If I get myself in trouble I can never get out of it. And_ then _I feel guilty, which makes Mary Margaret feel… everything, and Regina will ask me like, ten times if I’m okay, and I just--”_

_“We can have a dance,” the professor interrupted._

_“We can?”_

_“How about close to the holidays? After exams, and right before everyone goes home. That should give you plenty of time to make the arrangements.”_

_Emma put her head in her hands, “Don’t remind me.”_

_“I know you’re excited, but I won’t tell anyone. Your secret is safe with me.”_

_From then on, Emma was a little more careful how she told people about the dance._

_It turned out that Merida already knew, but by the awkward stumbling through that conversation, Emma was glad that conversation was first._

_(“So, uh, we’re having a dance.”_

_“Yeah,” Merida grinned, but Emma was too concentrated to notice._

_“It was m--… an idea that_ someone _had. Aurora and I are planning it.”_

_“Are you gonna ask Regina?” the redhead asked, wiggling her eyebrows from her bed across the room._

_Emma looked aghast, “Not you too!”_

_“Relax, Aurora already told me everything, I’m just teasing you. Besides, I bet if you asked her, she’d agree to be your date faster than, well,_ me. _” Emma made a face. “Faster_ physically _, I mean, like running. I wouldn’t agree to be your date at all, much less_ faster _.)_

_Mary Margaret was too excited for any of Emma’s phrasing to matter, but Marian was a little more suspicious._

_(“So, I don’t know if you guys have heard yet, but there’s gonna be a dance,” Emma started. She was about to keep babbling about it when Mary Margaret interrupted her with a squeal, which in retrospect (_ retrocognitive thought, how ironic) _was for the best._

_“Does David know yet? I wonder if he’ll ask me.”_

_“Maybe_ you _should ask_ him _,” Marian suggested. “You know how people talk.”_

_Mary Margaret crossed her arms tight across her chest, “I’ll have everyone know that even without a power like absolute charisma, I’d still think he was the most charming person I’ve ever met.”_

_“Oh really, have you asked Tink?”_

_The other girl scowled, as much as a person like Mary Margaret_ could _scowl anyway, “She had_ precognitive _dreams, not_ alternate possibility _dreams… or whatever they’d be called. And you know as well as I do that I would never ask her anything.”_

_Emma’s eyes were wide with humor as they met Robin’s as he watched the scene play out from Marian’s side. It wasn’t a serious argument, but it was amusing, especially after bringing up their former classmate._

_Mary Margaret and Tink got along less than any two people she’d ever seen. She’d made more comments about how ‘sketchy’ the relationship between her and David was, thinking he was using his powers against her. Sometimes other people made the same comments, but Emma knew the truth. As an empath, Mary Margaret knew that his love for her was true, just as much as hers was for him. She’d told Emma as much, and of course the blonde believed her._

_“So, anyway,” Marian smirked, changing the subject as she turned to Emma. “Are you going to ask someone?”_

_“Are you?” Emma countered._

_Marian shrugged a little, exchanging a glance with Robin. Emma could never tell if they were dating or not, but as long as the conversation was shifting from her to them, she didn’t care.)_

_Emma was looking for Regina to tell_ her _about the dance when she ended up telling Ruby and Lily instead, as the two of them were hanging out in the room Regina shared with the latter._

_(“Hey, where’s Regina?”_

_“I don’t know._ Why _?” Ruby asked with a knowing smirk. Emma started to go ahead and leave the room when Lily rolled her eyes._

_“What a stupid question,” she muttered, more to herself than anyone else._

_“Whose?” Ruby and Emma asked at the same time. Lily didn’t answer, so Emma assumed she was talking about Ruby’s. The two of them were like sisters, Lily having grown up in the school from birth after being literally hatched from an egg that the professor rescued (Emma wouldn’t believe it if she didn’t have lie detection). But then again, Lily’s relative dislike of everyone, including Emma, meant that she could have been insulting Emma’s question too._

_“Anyway, I’m gonna go. Good luck finding dates to the dance,” she said, leaving before she could catch their reactions.)_

_It was another day at lunch, and Emma was trying (and failing) not to pout about Regina’s absence when Neal and August took their usual seats across from her, already talking about the dance that Emma was ready to forget._

_(“So, I probably won’t ask_ anyone _, you know? It’s just a lot of pressure,” Neal said._

_“Yeah, but won’t you feel like you’re missing out?”_

_“I don’t know. I mean, maybe we don’t need a date-date. Have like a friend-date instead?”_

_August gave him a quizzical look. “But if it was two friends going together, it_ could _still be a date. Like if Emma were to--”_

 _“No. Don’t finish that sentence,” Emma interrupted. “How about instead of talking about_ my _date possibilities, we talk about_ yours _. Much more interesting.”_

 _But the two of them dodge the question, dropping the whole_ dance _conversation altogether, which Emma prefers anyway._

_“Have you gotten a chance to ask Professor X about starting a GSA?” Emma opened her mouth, ready to make her point but August beat her to it. “Don’t worry, I’ll still be the president, but you should be my VP.”_

_Emma slouched her shoulders, “No, but with this… thing,” she started, trying to avoid the word_ dance _, “I have too much on my plate. Maybe we can start it up after the holidays.”_

_“Sounds like a plan,” August grins._

_“So where’s Regina?”_

_Emma gave up on lunch.)_

_She was leaving the cafeteria when she ran into the reason she got into this mess, and of course, avoiding the topic was inevitable._

_(“Lady of the hour!” Phillip called out, and Emma dodged his hug._

_“I don’t know what you’re even talking about… a lot of the time,” Emma failed to say. “Whatever, I just didn’t want to get in trouble.”_

_“Are you sure you didn’t just want to have an excuse to ask someone out on a date? From what Aurora told us, you basically walked right into it.”_

_“Fine, maybe I did,” Emma said as defensively as possible, ignoring the giggles around her. The only one of them that wasn’t laughing was Mulan, and suddenly all Emma could think about was that Mulan knew nothing of Aurora and Phillip’s relationship prior to this dance business. She didn’t have to wonder if she knew now as she watched the couple’s hands laced together, swinging just slightly between them._

_Graham chuckled at her again, “You’re a terrible liar, Emma.”_

_She could only scowl at that.)_

_The only person Emma talked to that_ doesn’t _seem to be talking about the dance is Belle, who she runs into that night on her way to Regina’s room, but it didn’t surprise her. Belle was quiet, afraid of the magnitude of her power, and other than her roommate, Marian, the only person she really talked to was Regina, who liked Belle’s company because the other girl’s powers essentially made her own moot._

_Emma was grateful that Belle didn’t mention the dance, or the fact that she should ask Regina, but the blonde screwed it up for herself when she stopped her in the hallway and suddenly blurted out, “Have you seen Regina?”_

_Belle tried to hide her grin as she said, “Yeah, she’s in her room. Why?”_

_She looked like she_ knew _why, but Emma wasn’t about to bring it up. “I just have something to ask her,” she responded vaguely. “I’ll see you later, Belle.”_

_The other girl waved at her as Emma slipped by, walking the rest of the way down the hall before knocking on Regina’s door. Her heart was pounding, and she was sure this was going to be a disaster, but she just had to take it one sentence at a time._

_When the brunette opened the door, her curious expression softened into a smile. “Emma. I was hoping it was you.”_

_“You were?” she asked as Regina invited her into the room. She immediately took a seat on Regina’s bed, kicking her shoes off as she positioned herself with her back against the wall._

_“Of course.” Regina sat facing her, leaning against the headboard with her feet in Emma’s lap. Emma’s hands dropped instinctually to the other girl’s bare ankles, tracing her thumb over the bone without even thinking about it._

_“So, how’s your day been?” Emma started, and Regina laughed._

_“Same as always. I’ve missed you.”_

_“Yeah?” Emma grinned, looking in time to see Regina fighting back a smile, her cheeks tinted pink as she ducked her head._

_“Yeah,” she confirmed, eyes on her hands as she fidgeted with the drawstring on her pants. Emma smiled in her direction before looking back at her fingers drawing absentminded circles on Regina’s skin. She wasn’t sure what_ this thing _they were doing was, but she was sure that it was_ some kind of thing _._

_At least for her._

_The tension that filled the room whenever they were alone was so palpable, Emma thought that if she tried, she would be incapable of teleporting into it, as if it were another physical mass stopping her. They were always close in ways they weren’t with their other friends, and Emma had a plethora of distinctly non platonic dreams about Regina that more than validated her feelings._

_She was sure that Regina at least realized what was happening, even if she didn’t feel the same way. Emma knew the other girl’s emotion detection wasn’t the_ strongest _but it still existed. She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but sometimes her love for Regina was so overwhelming it would swallow her whole. She had to know, didn’t she?_

_“What about you?” Regina asked, breaking Emma’s train of thought._

_“What about me?”_

_“Did you have a good day?” The other girl glanced up at her, looking more confused than anything. It was moments like this that made Emma doubt that Regina knew anything at all, her own emotions swirling together in a ridiculous hodge podge of unidentified feelings. “You seem… I don’t know. Stressed?” She finished in question._

_“Oh, yeah maybe a little,” Emma answered honestly. “Me and Aurora are supposed to be planning this thing, and it’s just not happening. But we don’t need to talk about that.”_

_“So, you_ don’t _want to talk about the dance?”_

_Emma blinked up at her until Regina smiled that smile, crinkled eyes full of amusement, and the blonde felt herself relax. “Well, actually…” she started, trying to quell any nerves in her system so Regina wouldn’t pick up on them. “I wanted to ask you about it.”_

_“You’re almost the last one, you know.”_

_“What?!”_

_Regina chuckled, “I’ve talked about the dance to a lot of people… but not you.”_

_“Oh,” Emma said, feeling a little better if Regina just meant_ talking about it _, rather than being_ asked to it _._ Unless… _“Are you going with anyone yet?”_

_“No. Are you?”_

_“Not yet…” Emma found herself saying. She wanted to facepalm herself right then and there. Regina raised her eyebrows at the blonde. “Regina, do you want to go with me?”_

_There was a long moment of silence where Emma was afraid to look over at the brunette, and was so concentrated on feeling_ neutral _that she couldn’t tell if time was passing normally. She finally glanced over at Regina, who looked away as soon as their eyes met before looking back, like she had never stopped. “As friends?”_

 _Emma’s breath caught in her throat. She wondered if Regina could detect the difference in gay panic and normal panic, if there was even a difference, for her anyway. In this situation, she was at a loss. She couldn’t say_ yes _because it wasn’t true. She couldn’t say_ no _because_ what if Regina didn’t want that _? So instead she ended up saying, “Whatever you want,” offering Regina a soft smile._

_But then there was another pause._

_Heavier than the last, their eyes lingering on each other’s, and Emma was sure Regina was going to say something,_ anything, _that would solve everything. The blonde imagined a soft_ “you” _escaping Regina’s lips. She imagined moving from where she sat now, slinking over to be even closer to Regina, tilting her chin and bringing their lips together._

_But then Regina tore her eyes away with a small nod. “Yeah, I’ll go with you. Friends is fine.”_

_Emma gave her a tight lipped smile. “Friends,” she muttered, even though it didn’t feel like friends. Not then, not when they color coordinated their outfits, and not when Regina looped her arm in Emma’s as they walked to the training room, decorated in the most interesting way Emma and Aurora could come up with._

_(“Too bad no one has some kind of special decorating powers,” Emma had grumbled as she tried once again to keep the decorations from falling off every time Aurora tried to help. “How about you just pass me stuff. Your weakness embodiment must be making the tape weak too.”_

_Aurora crossed her arms with a scoff. “You know I don’t know how to manage it. It’s the worst mutation ever anyway. Right behind_ sleep inducement _.”)_

_Now that this was happening, Emma wished she had just agreed to help Aurora and Phillip sneak out. This had turned out to be a huge deal, even if no one was really taking it seriously._

_David and Mary Margaret were excited, as basically the school’s only couple, other than_ maybe _Robin and Marian, who looked like they had just been dropped from the most ideal of Rom Coms, and then Phillip and Aurora, who were slowly becoming more open with their public displays of affection, which still didn’t go further than a brief hug. Emma only noted it because if intimacy was a competition, she and Regina had almost surpassed them, not that it_ was _a competition of course._

_Everyone else had arrived with a friend. Merida and Mulan. Ruby and Graham. Lily and Tink. Neal and August. Some other students had some the same, others had just made small groups. The blonde couldn’t help but glance at the pairs and wonder if there was anything else to those, just like she thought there was in her case. Aurora winked at Emma across the room when she saw her with Regina’s arm on hers, and the blonde turned Regina away before she could notice._

_“So I know you don’t read_ my _mind, which, thanks again for that, but do you ever get curious and read other people’s?”_

_Regina gave her a look. “Not without good reason You know that.”_

_“Yeah, okay good,” Emma laughed nervously. “Don’t find a good reason tonight.”_

_“Like I would want to. This is a_ school dance _, Emma. I’m sure you know the kinds of things people are thinking about,_ date _or not.” She seemed to realize the words as she said them, her cheeks flushing a deep red as she looked away. Just as Regina gives Emma the courtesy of not reading her mind, Emma would return the favor, but she wished she could know what was going on in the brunette’s head right now._

_She didn’t ask._

_Instead they danced for the fast songs, went for refreshments during the slow songs, and tried not to point out the almost intentional pattern of it all, or at least Emma did. The pattern was broken a few times when they went to dance with their other friends. Emma danced with both Ruby and Neal, with August twice, and eventually she was dancing with Mulan, who reluctantly agreed to it when Emma thought she should try and enjoy the night, even if she didn’t like what led them there._

_Mulan’s feelings weren’t something that everyone knew, but it was likely something anyone could figure out. Emma only knew because she was Merida’s roommate, and she was there for all the conversations. Unrequited love, the belief that what Aurora needed wasn’t what Phillip could give her, it was all something Mulan said with her voice and with her expression. When Emma promised not to tell, they knew she wasn’t lying, but she thought they also knew she could relate in some way._

_Emma didn’t really_ care _who ended up with who, but on some level, she thought Mulan and Aurora would be a perfect couple. Maybe Aurora didn’t understand how to use her weakness embodiment mutation, but in opposition to Mulan’s supernatural strength, it seemed like the kind of thing that would balance out to a perfect harmony._

_They were dancing to a slower song, which Emma thought was good. Looking solemn while moving to upbeat music was just… odd, and the blonde didn’t want to put any attention on the other girl’s emotions. She had already made a point to dance across the room from nearly everyone. Snow for sure, Regina just in case (jealousy was an emotion Emma was sure she could pick up after all), and Aurora and Graham._

_She was about to ask Mulan some generic question, just to start up a conversation when the other side of the room erupted into chaos, and a scream that definitely belonged to Aurora sounded over the music, which was shut down almost immediately._

_Mulan was gone in seconds, racing to Aurora to make sure she was okay, and even though she could have chased behind her, she teleported over, preparing to heal if she needed to. She was sure that someone was hurt, by the sound of it, but by the time she was crouched on the ground next to Phillip’s body, still and cold, she couldn’t do anything._

_Her hand recoiled immediately when it brushed against his skin. He couldn’t have been dead for more than seconds, but somehow his body was already like ice. Behind her, Aurora was inconsolable, and the rest of the school was stepping back, horrified and confused, and Emma wanted to join them._

_Logan appeared next to her before she could stand. “Emma, I’d hate to ask you to do this, but we need to get him out of here. Fast.”_

_The blonde nodded, fighting nausea as she gripped Phillip’s limp hand and took them both to the medical ward. Xavier must have already relayed the message to Granny because she seemed to know what was happening the minute Emma and Phillip appeared, a white sheet ready, dropped over his body before Emma could even drop his hand._

_When she did, she dropped to the floor, the stillness in this room greater than the other, the weight of what was happening threatening to crush her, and she didn’t even_ understand _._

_She didn’t hear anyone else entering the room, and it didn’t occur to her as a possibility until she was being picked up by warm arms, pulled into a warm body, fingers running through her hair as she was eased away from the scene._

_Aurora’s cries were back, turning into statements of “I don’t understand” and “we were just kissing” and “it wasn’t supposed to be like that” and “Marian can’t you do something?”_

_She heard Marian speak through her own tears, “Animancy doesn’t deal with the dead, Aurora. He’s gone… I don’t-- I wish I could help, but it’s just--”_

_“Don’t tell me that it’s the way the world works,” Aurora cried back, her voice loud and harsh and_ broken _, and just the sound of it made Emma’s heart hurt more. She wondered if this was how Mary Margaret always felt around emotions. She couldn’t imagine._

 _She tried to tune out the conversation, clinging close to the person holding her. She didn’t realize it was Regina until she heard her voice, soft through her mind._ Emma, it’s okay. I’m here. _It made Emma cry harder._ You can get us out of here if you want to go. There’s nothing we can do. It isn’t running away. It’s okay, Emma.

_And then they were gone._

_As soon a they were in her room, she felt Regina leading her backwards until she felt her legs hit the bed. She managed to get her shoes off before lying down, curled against Regina’s body. She hadn’t stopped holding Emma the entire time, and she didn’t stop for the rest of the night._

_They woke up the next morning, Emma’s face pressed to Regina’s chest, the brunette’s arms still wrapped tight around her, light circles being traced against her back. “Hey,” Regina said when Emma shifted to look up at her. Regina still looked as perfect as she had the night before, but Emma was sure she couldn’t say the same about herself._

_“I got makeup on your dress,” Emma said, and she wanted to cry again just at that alone. She couldn’t even let herself think about what had brought on her tears to begin with._

_“It’s okay,” Regina said, readjusting a little before pulling Emma back to her. “How are you feeling?”_

_“You tell me,” Emma deadpanned._

_“Emma, I… I can’t read anything right now. Not from you, not from myself… not from anyone.”_

_The blonde didn’t know what to say to that, so she buried her face in Regina’s neck, hoping she could fall back asleep, and somehow when she woke up, none of this would be happening._

_But it was._

_Everyone was called to an assembly around noon, and it took all of Emma’s energy to get out of bed, leave Regina’s embrace, and change into new clothes. She offered some to Regina, just because she didn’t want to be separated from her for too long._

_When they were ready, Emma teleported them both to the small auditorium, and she didn’t let go of Regina’s hand even when they sat down. The blonde glanced around for Aurora, but she wasn’t there. A few others were missing, Mulan, who was probably with Aurora; Mary Margaret, which made sense given the high emotions in the room; and Tink, which made the least sense._

_“As you all know, we experienced a great tragedy yesterday, losing one of our own. Phillip,” Xavier started. “While it is a hard topic to discuss, it is important to inform you that the cause of his death is not a threat to us but an accident. We were apprehensive to share this information with you, but after careful consideration, we believe it would be for the best that you get the full story, to avoid the spreading of rumors or misinformation._

_“Phillip’s mutation was unique, and there was so much we didn’t know about it. Hybrid soul is a very unique and complex power. It’s comprised of layers that are not as immediately recognized as some other mutations might be, and the cause of his death is something that would have been difficult to predict._

_“A deep layer of his mutation was buried deep within him, and it was brought to my attention by Erik that there could be darkness in him. You may have heard about one of his followers, Killian, whose dark form signals him of negative forces, darkness within others, and he sensed something inside the school. Now, that could have been Phillip, but that doesn’t mean that it_ was _, or is,” he adds unsure. “The fact of the matter is that we believe he had a piece of hybrid soul within him, attributed to that of a wraith. It was undetectable to us, and likely the weakest point of his mutation._

_“His death is by no means Aurora’s fault, but we do think that the combination of their powers and the intimacy of their contact backfired significantly. Part of her power is to bring forth the weakest parts of a person, and for Phillip, it was the wraith division of his hybrid soul. When that part was brought forth, his soul could not sustain its energy, and the two forces were cancelled out, resulting in the loss of his life.”_

_“Could it have been prevented?” Graham suddenly asked, and Xavier hesitated long enough for whispers to start._

_“As far as Aurora and Phillip’s mutations are concerned, no. We hadn’t realized how strong her power could be, nor did we know the extent of Phillip’s hybrid soul and the parts it contained. Aurora’s schooling will be more directive from here on out, when she is ready to start classes again, and I ask that you all respect her. As I said, this was unintentional, and as you can imagine, she isn’t faring well._

_“However, we do believe this could have been prevented, had all of our students been honest with me. Yesterday, we lost Phillip, but we also lost another. She was last seen at the beginning of the dance, but has since abandoned the school, and joined Magneto’s team. I do not wish to get into this here and now, as some of you were, and maybe still are her friend. She wished her reason for leaving to remain anonymous in the letter left in her room.”_

_Emma scoffed. As if she would remain anonymous. It was Tink that left, undoubtedly. Not only had she always focussed more on the dark side of her mutation, but she had precognition, and if she left before Phillip’s death, that could have been prevented with the correct preemptive actions, she had known it was going to happen._

_But of course, Phillip’s death wouldn’t be the only unpredictable turn of events in their lives._

* * *

 

Emma wakes suddenly with a start, and she’s really pissed off that her body feels weak and sore. She has _healing_ for fuck’s sake. It takes her a moment, struggling to sit up and take a glance around the room, to remember exactly what happened.

“Emma.” She turns to see Xavier walking towards her. “We still have the shield up, but it’s lowered enough for your healing to still work while you rested. We didn’t want to drop it entirely, not here, and not after the unpredictability of the Brotherhood’s actions. Though…” he trails off, shaking his head. “Now that you’re awake--”

“Lower it. I can help.”

It doesn’t take long to get everyone healed enough to be considered _okay_ , physically, anyway, but by the time the forcefield is raised back up, and they’re gathering to meet in the conference room, Emma’s probably in worse shape than all of them, her energy running thin. “At least I can heal in here,” she mutters, slouching in her chair.

No one speaks for a long moment, until finally, Emma can’t stand it anymore. “So, I’m kind of confused,” she says, stating the obvious and looking to _anyone_ for clarification, but none comes. “Aurora…” she sees Mulan’s head drop, her eyes on the floor. “She was _evil_ , which was weird. And she said…” Emma pauses to take a deep breath. “She said Phillip was back.”

Almost everyone stares at her in a mix of shock, confusion and disbelief, except for Mulan and Ruby, who just look afraid to speak up. “That’s impossible,” Marian says, shaking her head. “His soul… there’s no coming back from that.”

“I know. But she wasn’t lying.”

Ruby nods. “She’s right. Phillip was there. But he isn’t the same. His soul or his physiology. His powers are different. And Graham was there too. I think he was keeping Phillip under control. I think he has… demon physiology? He’s like some kind of hellhound or something. I couldn’t pick up on what it was exactly.”

“I’d rather know _why_ than _what_ ,” Mulan says. “Something doesn’t seem right.”

“Wait,” Emma blurts, suddenly remembering something else. “That one guy, I think his name is Daniel? He said that it wasn’t about the Brotherhood.”

Something settles in Xavier’s face, like a suspicion he already had is suddenly confirmed, and for the first time, Emma wonders who else they’d been fighting.

“David, you said there were six of them there? Did that include Phillip?”

He nods. “Phillip and Aurora, Killian, Daniel, and Graham.” He stops for a minute as if trying to recall the thought, and even though Emma thinks she knows the answer, she can’t help but wonder if it was Regina. “Rumple,” David says.

Everyone keeps talking about Phillip suddenly being back and on an army that contains so many people they used to be friends with, theorizing that Daniel brought him back somehow with his necromancy, but as far as how they altered his mutation or why they did any of it at all was beyond them.

Emma isn’t listening. Instead, her mind is in its own world, trying to figure out why it seems like the Brotherhood, or at least some of its members, are trying to divide themselves, and not only that, but what side Regina is on. She rationalizes the thought as just needing to know for the sake of powers, so they know what they’re up against.

She knows better.

She joins the conversation again, nodding along with what they’re thinking, which is the same thought she’d just had, about how they seem to be dividing, and when Xavier says, “I think some of them are turning against Erik, but I’m not sure what side that leaves him on,” Emma almost laughs at his relatability.

 _Emma._ She suddenly hears.

The blonde jumps, and a few people give her weird looks, but she dismisses them, slouching back down. “Sorry,” she says, acting as nonchalant as possible, but she’s completely freaking out, almost entirely sure that Regina is trying to talk to her.

 _Emma, you know how this works,_ Regina’s voice says. _I’m not reading your mind. Remember we used to do this all the time? You know how to answer, if you want to. Latch on. I’ll give you a minute to choose. If you don’t want to talk to me, just ignore me, and I’ll leave but I need to talk to you._

She crosses her arms over her chest and stares at the floor while the conversation around her continues. She doesn’t really want to talk to Regina, and she’s not sure she can handle it, but what if she can get answers? Isn’t this what she wanted, after all? For Regina to reach out and tell Emma that she’s innocent? That she’s sorry?

She counts to ten. Se wonders how much time has passed or if Regina’s already gone. The thought that she could miss this conversation entirely is what really drives her to answer, so she reaches out in her mind, on Regina’s presence, and it comes so naturally even though it’s been years since she last did this.

 _What,_ she huffs at Regina.

A beat passes before Regina says back, _It’s about Phillip._

 _I know,_ Emma scoffs. _We already saw him._

_What?_

Emma’s eyes squint at the surprise in Regina’s voice. Did she not know they attacked us? Does she know about the power outage at all? _Uh, yeah_ Emma explains. _They attacked us. After the power outage, we went to find them. Figured you guys were up to something._

We’re _not up to anything,_ Regina defends. _Some of them are, but if you’re trying to blame the Brotherhood…_

_What are you saying?”_

_I’m saying that they’re up to something. The others… Rumple… Killian…  They won’t tell me anything._

_Why are you telling me this?_ Emma asks. Her mind feels blank while she waits for an answer she may never get. _Do you think I’m going to trust you?_

_I don’t know. Are you?_

Emma holds back her answer. She wants to say _no_ , but she knows that if she tries, it’s only going to come out as a _yes_ . If she says anything else, it’s going to sound like a _yes_ because Regina _knows_ her. She knows how her powers work, and she knows that nothing good will come from trying to lie.

 _Bye, Regina. Good luck,_ she says, ending the conversation, letting go, and trying to focus on the X-Men’s theorizing and scheming, but she can’t stop thinking about how she still trusts Regina.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!
> 
> Here’s a list of all the powers i’ve revealed so far just to help you keep up:
> 
> Emma: lie detection/ teleportation/ healing  
> Regina: telepathy/ mind control/ emotion detection (relatively minor)  
> Mary Margaret: retrocognition/ empathy  
> David: absolute charisma/ night vision  
> Robin: supernatural thievery  
> Ruby: wolfwere physiology  
> August: wood mimicry  
> Neal: pyrokinesis  
> Belle: panmnesia/ psychic shadow (extends to self only)  
> Mulan: supernatural strength/ innate combat  
> Elsa: cryokinesis  
> Marian: animancy  
> Granny: regeneration  
> Will: probability manipulation  
> Aurora: weakness embodiment/ sedation inducement  
> Phillip: (past) hybrid soul | (present) hybrid embodiment demon physiology (yaoguai*)/ feral mind  
> Graham: faunal communication  
> Merida: supernatural speed  
> Killian: dark form/ darkness manipulation  
> Rumple: trickster  
> Daniel: necromancy  
> Lily: wing manifestation  
> Tink: precognition  
> Blue: invisibility (what a shady bitch, amirite?)  
> Kathryn: self spawn/ replication  
> Midas: gold manipulation  
> Ingrid: ice magic  
> Merlin: energy manipulation  
> Cora: hypnosis/ cloaking  
> Xavier: telepathy/ mind control/ psychic navigation/ etc  
> Magneto: metal manipulation  
> Logan: healing/ adamantium claws
> 
> *not OUAT’s version of the yaoguai


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg I hope this is worth the wait! some of you will hate this chapter (or maybe me) during at least one point, but don't forget this is high key sq endgame. we all makes mistakes and regina's about to make a few.

( _Regina_ )

 

She expected Emma to shut her out, and it wasn’t _fine_ by any means, but it was certainly better than everything else she’s dealing with. Rumple, Killian, and the others are definitely up to something, and while she has no qualms being on “the bad side” or being in the Brotherhood, she _is_ against all this sneaky behavior because, evil or not, they’re a _team_.

It is also at least mildly irritating to her that she doesn’t know where Magneto stands on this whole ordeal. When she calls him to find out, she discovers that he’s actually out of the country, off on a mission _completely_ unrelated to anything that’s been going on here and hasn’t heard from Rumple or Killian since he left.

“Wait, what?” She blinks at this new reveal of information. Hadn’t they said--

“Why, what are they doing?”

Regina freezes up. Magneto shouldn’t have to come back just to take care of this childish mess of theirs when she could handle it herself. If she really needs him, she can ask for his help at any point, but this could be nothing.

 _Except that they kidnapped a mutant child, raised the dead, and manipulated people to do their bidding…_ her brain reminds her.

“I’ll let you know,” she tells him.

“Please do,” he says skeptically before Regina ends the call and heads downstairs, hoping to get there before Magneto decides to contact them, if he does at all that is. She knows it’s not likely, but that doesn’t stop her from marching through the building to get to them. She isn’t even sorry about reading their minds just for their location - a spare room in their safe house they’ve made into a pretentious, glorified _man cave_ , or at least that’s Regina and Lily call it, as opposed to the room Magneto calls for assembly in, in which everyone who wants to be included is. There ought to be fairness amongst evil too, he always says.

She passes through the kitchen on the way there, sparing a smile for Will, who’s perched on the counter with a bag of gummy worms, Tink telling him ridiculous stories of what Regina is sure are _fake_ precognitive dreams. Will stares back at her, looking somewhere between terrified and amused. The laugh he lets out is enough to keep Regina sane on the whole issue, at least in regards to Will. As for the other stuff… well, Regina is less than tolerant.

Regina swings the door open and lets it slam into the wall, determined to keep the upper hand as _upper_ as possible before they try to bring her down. _Try_ being the keyword.

The two men look up at her, more out of curiosity than surprise, and Regina can already imagine their ridiculous commentary of _oh, look who finally grew a spine_ or _what’s wrong, did someone forget to put the milk away?_ but she’s not going to have it.

“Look,” she growls. “I’m tired of this dynamic you’re attempting to maintain behind Magneto’s back and all this goddamn secrecy. We’re supposed to be working together for one solid purpose, but instead, you’re withholding information from the rest of us, kidnapping innocent children, manipulating people to join our side when _we shouldn't have to stoop that low_ . You make it seem like no one would want to work with us, but I’m sure if the two of you pulled it together and stopped being such slimy bastards people _would_ want to work with us.”

Rumple is smirking, and when he opens his mouth to speak, Regina already knows it’s to point out that they’re ‘withholding information’ that she could get at anytime, so she cuts him off before he can make a sound. “I’m not above using my powers against you, you know.”

“Oh really?” Rumple says, jumping in before Regina even has time to react. “But then wouldn’t you just be...what did you call it, _stooping_ to our level?”

Regina’s lip twitches. She honestly doesn’t know why she puts up with them. They shoot down everything she says, unwilling to listen and unable to see reason. “I’m not the one doing the manipulating. I brought mutants to our team the way people _ought_ to be brought in because they _want_ to be here. You’re tricking people to work with us, ignoring their free will completely, and apparently you’re raising the dead?”

The amused grin on Kilian’s face vanishes. “What do _you_ know about that?”

“Maybe you should just mind your own business. What we choose to do with our powers is up to us. We needed someone like Phillip, and where he didn’t exist, we made him exist. If you want the information, you know how to get it. Otherwise, kindly get out of our way.”

“What’s the point in starting war with the X-Men, anyway?” Regina asks, starting to regret ever speaking up. She sounds weak. She _feels_ weak. The completeness of the feeling alerts her to just how toxic this whole thing is, and it’s not like she hasn’t seen signs of it already, but any redeemable qualities to being on their side, not the Brotherhood’s side or the ‘evil’ side but _their_ side, are fading fast and going unreplaced.

Killian scowls at her. “You sound so… wishy washy. What’s your problem? I thought you were with us?” He says, affirming her own self reflection. If anything, it just makes her more irritated.

“I _am_ with you, but what you’re doing is completely illogical. There are already so few mutants in the world, why do we need to force division in places where there’s peace, or even just neutrality? And if you’re _going_ to divide us, you should at least be keeping the rest of your _team_ informed,” Regina responds, her voice raising.

She feels better about her tone, but Killian doesn’t seem to appreciate it. “You can either do what we say and help us, or you can leave,” he growls. “We don’t have to tell you everything. Hell, we don’t even have to tell you _any_ thing.”

“What? Am I just another blind follower to you?”

“What else would you be if you refuse to actually use your powers?” It’s true. Regina knows it’s true, but that doesn’t help quell her anger against Killian and the others,

“All these people… I could let them go at any time. My power is greater than Rumple’s… his hold on them is flimsy

“Yeah but you forget… my dark powers enhance his. Together we are stronger than you.” Regina scoffs, looking away. “Not to mention, you won’t do it. You’re lucky to be on our side at all, not that you would be useful to _them_ either. You won’t use your powers against us when we’re on the same side. I can’t imagine that would change just because your alignment does.”

Regina shakes her head. “ _Sides_. I don’t think you even understand what you’re talking about.” She turns back for the door, looking back one last time as an afterthought. “And I’m not just talking about sides. You don’t know what I would do.”

She’s storming down the hallway, bypassing the kitchen in favor of her own room, but Lily appears out of nowhere, her hand gripping Regina’s wrist and tugging her back. “Hey,” she whispers, and Regina blinks in surprise.

 _What?_ she asks Lily telepathically.

“Come with me.”

She whisks Regina further down the hallway, ducking into a room no one ever makes use of. It’s a little stuffy but not uncomfortable, and it’s a good place to disappear even if that isn’t their mutation.

“No one’s in here right?” Lily asks, and Regina smirks, knowing they’d just been thinking the same thing. She takes a deep breath for searching the room for any other thought to indicate the two weren’t alone, but there’s just silence.

“She’s not in here. It’s just us.” Lily sighs in relief, her eyes flitting towards the door. “What’s up?”

“You need to use them.”

“Them?”

“Your powers. We need to get some information from Rumple and Killian. Or anyone else. They’re keeping us in the dark, and I don’t like it. I know that you don’t either. They’re being dicks, Regina, you said it yourself.”

“Maybe not quite like that, but--”

“But you said it. And you’re thinking it. Aren’t you?”

Regina nods. “Though, you’re really being generous with your word choice…”

“Okay, true, but that’s beside the point. You’re gonna help me right?”

“Is it just us?”

“For now,” Lily shrugs. “I’m not saying we’re going to revolt or do anything insane, but I just don’t like being on board with something I don’t understand. Besides, if they weren’t up to something, they’d have no reason to withhold information. If we all really were a team, they would include us.”

“You think they’re worried we won’t support them?”

“That’s what we need to find out.”

They decide to stick with reading the minds of the leaders, thinking it might be too risky  to read into any of the others and navigating through manipulation and complicated thoughts about being risen from the dead, and they decide Killian is an easier target because he’s less likely to notice the mental invasion, especially since it’s not of malicious intent.

They learn that while Daniel used his necromancy to raise Phillip, Killian and Rumple were there, tricking his mutation and shifting into the dark opposite of what it was supposed to be; they learned that Graham had been manipulated by Rumple to join them in order to maintain control over Phillip; they learned that Aurora was there mostly of her own free will, though it was skewed by Phillip’s push into darkness and her own weakness embodiment; they learn that Merida is being tricked and Blue isn’t, that Will isn’t being held hostage _mentally_ , only _physically_ , and by the end of it, Regina isn’t sure what to think, besides the most clear piece of it all -- “They’re blocking some of the information. I can’t access any of their plans for some reason.”

Lily groans, “Okay, so they’re hiding something. You think it’s all of us or just some? You know, maybe they’re just waiting until they have a better idea of something. Like they don’t want to tell us anything that’s going to fall through.”

“They don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt,” Regina scoffs. “I doubt that’s the case, anyway. It’s not like they’re _smart_.”

They fall into a complacent silence, Regina stewing in her own thoughts and Lily seemingly brushing hers off, a forced relief filling the room that doesn’t affect Regina in the slightest. “Okay, well, let me know if you find anything else out,” Lily says with a wave as she stands and walks to the door.

Regina loves Lily, but sometimes she’s just so frustrating, leaving her to handle things alone, assuming that Regina doesn’t want a break from it all too.

At this point, she figures she won’t ever get a break, but maybe she can live with that as long as she figures anything out. But unfortunately, it doesn’t look likely. She considers reaching out to Emma again. She doesn’t think it would be of any help, but it doesn’t stop the idea.

It’s so stupid, really, how much Emma altered her whole life. She wonders where she would be if everything had played out differently. She usually doesn’t let her mind go there, but with all this other _bullshit_ , it doesn’t seem so bad. It’s easier to blame herself after all, and she doubts she would be here _now_ if she hadn’t been so careless _then_.

* * *

 

 _It wasn’t uncommon for Emma to stay the night in Regina’s room, (or vice versa,) but it_ was _uncommon for Lily to stick around when it happened. She usually found a reason to disappear, but eventually she just… stopped._

 _“At first I thought I_ had _to, but then I realized you werent fucking around so I just stopped… fucking around. If you ask me to leave, I will, but only for good reason.”_

 _Regina had never blushed more in her entire life, she was_ sure _of it, but Emma just looked_ too casual _about it. “We never_ do _anything.” Regina’s stomach plummeted until she realized Emma wasn’t talking about the two of them but the two of them and Lily._

_“Well, what do you have in mind?”_

_“We’re only young once,” Lily shrugged. “Let’s have a party.”_

_Whatever Lily had planned get lost in the hype her event gets. There were too many people piled into the room for it to make a difference, and Regina didn’t even get to sit_ next to _Emma. The blonde was sitting next to August, and Regina couldn’t help but feel bitter. She heard the rumors that floated around campus, but never from Emma herself, and it was hard to differentiate fact from reality._

 _Everyone said she was_ lucky _because all she had to do was read Emma’s mind and find out ‘the easy way,’ but nothing about that seemed easy at all. Even in her most inebriated state, she knew that Emma would never forgive her for reading her mind._

_Most of their classmates were there, squeezed into Regina and Lily’s room, talking too loud to accomplish anything, but something about the way Neal leaned towards her, made her reconsider the whole night._

_“Hey,” he whispered, sending a chill up Regina’s spine._

_“Hey…” she responded cautiously, her shoulder brushing against Neal’s as they leaned back against the wall. She glanced back at him. “Are you bored?”_

_Neal shrugged. “Just curious.”_

_“Haven’t you heard? That’s what drinking games are for,” Regina told him with a shrug, hoping it translated to_ I couldn’t care less.

_“Let’s say we never get a chance in the drinking game spotlight… what would you say?”_

_“What do you mean?”_

_“I mean… these games are all about spilling your deepest secrets, so...” Neal murmured. “What have you got?”_

_“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” Regina replied with a wink._

_That was where everything started to go wrong._

_They ended up sharing the same vague information with each other, both of their confessions the same._ I have a pretty big crush on someone _, which could mean anyone. It could be_ her _for all she knows._

_At any rate, she hadn’t had enough to drink to deal with this._

_Across the room is a selection of liquor they’d managed to acquire and a few bottles of soda, and Regina’s about to make herself another of whatever she just had when she felt a huge burst of an undeniable emotion behind her. It was_ love _, and it was coming from_ Emma _._

 _As Regina turned around to catch a glimpse of the blonde, Emma was laughing at something August said, or maybe it was Neal, a bright smile on her face. She was just so_ happy _, and even though she didn’t know which person the feeling was for, Regina didn’t have a chance._

_So she poured herself a generous amount of vodka before topping it off with a mixer. Snow was sitting next to the station, and she gave Regina a forced smile. “I don’t know how you stand to be in here. Everyone’s emotions are always higher with alcohol involved. Not to mention all over the place.”_

_Snow just raised her own glass to Regina’s. “Cheers.” Regina quirked a brow but followed through before turning to leave. “Well, hey,” Snow called out after her. “You may not be able to block out the stronger emotions, but at least you can shut out the thoughts. Could you imagine?”_

_“I’d rather not,” Regina snorted as she went for a sip of her drink. It tasted awful, but it would be fulfilling its purpose soon enough, and it was admittedly her focus for the start of the night._

_She ended up squeezed in between Neal, who seemed to be drinking just as much as Regina, and Robin, who wasn’t drinking anything at all. “I consider myself lawful good,” he told her, “You know, to make up for having supernatural thievery.”_

_“Suit yourself,” Regina shrugged. “More for me.”_

_Robin frowned at her in concern so she just turned back to Neal, poking him in his side until he stopped talking to Emma and turned to her instead. At some point she’d decided that Emma’s mysterious feelings were more likely for Neal than August, as Neal (who she knew to have a mysterious crush) seemed more interested in her in return. And, sure, maybe that wasn’t a courteous move, but she didn’t want to take any chances._

_It might not have been so terrible if they were all normal teenagers playing a drinking game, but they weren’t. They were mutants, and that changed everything. If they hadn’t been, Emma might have played, and there would be a handful of opportunities for her to give Regina some clues about_ anything _; however, Emma had a mutation that restricted her from lying as well as detecting lies from others, making her almost autocratic during a game of truth or dare, so she refrained from participating at all. Regina declined participation as well, claiming that she had an unfair advantage even though everyone knew she wasn’t going to invade anyone’s privacy just to win._

_Later in the night, Regina felt another surge of emotion from Emma, and she combatted it by getting Neal away from her. He didn’t mind as much as Regina expected him to, though Emma looked disheartened. Regina was about to drop the whole thing, Emma’s pout enough to make her want to just hold the blonde against her, but Regina stubbornly couldn’t see any other option than what was right in front of her._

_So instead, Regina trailed Neal alongside her, trying to ignore the blatant jealousy coming from Emma and trying even harder not to feel guilty about it. It wasn’t like anything was actually going to_ happen _, and she was sure that no one would suspect it to, especially not between the two of them._

_Eventually Emma stopped paying them any attention and turned instead to August, leaning against his shoulder as she downed whatever she was drinking. Regina did the same across the room._

_“Need another?” Neal offered as he grinned at her, his back to Emma and August, effectively blocking her view._

_“Please,” she said, handing him her empty cup and turning to watch him make… whatever it is he was making. “It’s kind of warm in here, don’t you think?”_

_With one glance around the room, Neal stuffed his free hand into his pocket. “Uh, yeah, it kinda is. You wanna step out for a bit?”_

_Regina answered by plastering a sultry smile on her face, looping her arm in Neal’s, and walking them to the door, ignoring Mary Margaret’s concerned glance and instead finding Emma’s. They held eye contact for a brief moment before she and Neal slipped out of the room. The door closed behind them before Regina could get any read on Emma’s emotions._

_“I hope we don’t get caught,” Neal chuckled as they made their way down the hallway._

_“Caught?”_

_“You know, with the drinks.”_

_“Oh. Right,” Regina mumbled._

_“What’d you think I meant?” Neal asked, amused._

_“I’m sure you could figure it out,” Regina smirked, and the two continued to make their way through the school, not speaking again until they stepped outside into the cool night air. Leaning against a balustrade across the large patio, they looked back at the school, sipping their drinks in silence for a moment before Regina decided to speak up. “So, secret crush, huh?”_

_Neal blushed slightly before turning away to hide his smile. “Yeah.”_

_“Must be serious,” Regina commented. “I noticed you didn’t play any of the games.”_

_“It can be dangerous to play games like that with teenagers, you know. Lots of things people don’t understand,” Neal explained with a shrug._

_“Do you think_ I _understand?” Regina turned to face him but didn’t back away._

_He mimicked her position. “Yeah, I think you do.”_

_It was probably the alcohol, which was mostly gone by now, affecting her judgement the most, but she couldn’t shake the idea that doing_ this _would change things, start a conversation she didn’t know how to even begin herself or maybe even incite Emma to_ do something _, even though the blonde wasn’t even here to witness it._

(In retrospect, she couldn’t imagine any thought process being more idiotic)

 _But it only took a moment for her to seek out answers to everything between her and Emma and Emma and Neal by closing the space between_ her _and Neal. The kiss lasted longer than she thought it would, and it was softer than she expected. The only reason she pulled away was due to an intense emotional shift in the air, heartbreak almost palpable as she pushed away from Neal and turned to see Emma, jaw slack as her eyes flitted between them._

_“Emma…” Regina started, but the blonde was gone in seconds. “Fuck,” she muttered as she started to stagger towards the door. Neal’s hand found hers after only a step, and she spun on the spot._

_Remorse. Remorse. Remorse._

_Regina shook her head before turning to run inside. There was only one thing that mattered now and it was fixing what she never meant to break, even if it meant that Emma would choose Neal over her._

_But what if she did?_

_Regina’s head spun as she navigated through the hallways, trying to get to Emma’s room. She didn’t want to imagine a scenario that involved anyone other than she and Emma, and just remembering what had happened not five minutes ago made her feel sick. She knocked on the door once. Then twice. Then a third time, but before she could knock again, the door was pulled open._

_“Emma, I--”_

_It wasn’t Emma, but Merida who opened the door, and she frowned as she shook her head. “I haven’t seen her. Last I knew she was still in your room…” Regina turned away with a lost shake of her head. “If I see her, I’ll let her know you came by.”_

_Regina was grateful, but that just wasn’t good enough. She couldn’t let this drop before the night was over. She needed to find Emma_ now _, fix this_ now _. She wandered away from the noise down the hallway, wondering where the blonde might have gone, but she didn’t have a clue._

_She could find out._

_But she shouldn’t. Not like that._

_But she_ needed _Emma._

_She was only going to find Emma’s thoughts for a moment, long enough to know where she went, but not long enough that she would actually hear anything. She didn’t want to actually invade, but when she latched onto Emma’s mind, she felt stuck. Her name caught her attention and as she walked through the school, she kept her mind in place._

_At first it was just Emma replaying the event, watching the two of them leave before deciding to find them. Emma letting her emotions lead her to their location where she’d caught them kissing. She hadn’t known how long they’d been doing it or what led them to that point, all she knew is that it was happening, and she was hurt._

_The blonde was hiding out in a small classroom downstairs, and Regina recognized it as the room she and Emma had first met in, sitting side by side, nervous on their first day. Emma’s thoughts weren’t there though, rather they were focussed only on the issue at hand, and as Regina pushed the door open, she heard it loud and clear:_

Regina could never love me _._

_Green eyes met brown, and Regina pulled back mentally, wishing she hadn’t been reading Emma’s mind at all. The blonde looked surprised that Regina had found her here, so soon after she’d disappeared, and it wasn’t long before her eyes narrowed in suspicion, Regina looking like a deer in the headlights, she was sure._

_Emma was feeling so many things that Regina couldn’t keep them straight. Confusion and relief and anger and heartbreak all at once, blending into an in indiscernible mess before it was just_ hurt _, and Regina didn’t need to be reading Emma’s mind anymore to realize that Emma knew that was what she’d been doing, a growing recognition in her eyes._

_“Emma--”_

_“_ Don’t.” _The blonde stood, turning so that her back was to Regina._

_She felt even more nauseous than she had before, and she didn’t even feel drunk anymore but she knew she still was, stumbling forward and blurting out, “I didn’t hear anything.”_

_It was the kind of thing that no one would have believed under normal circumstances, but then again, nothing about these circumstances could be considered_ normal _. Emma’s emotions were cracking at the edges as she spun around, advancing on Regina. Tears spilled down her cheeks and all Regina wanted to do was to brush them away, but she doubted she would ever get that chance. The look Emma was giving her told her everything she needed to know._

_This was it for them._

_Regina left that night, disappearing when everyone else had finally cleared out from their room. She didn’t bother telling anyone where she was going, except Lily, who was at least half conscious when Regina snuck her way out the door._

_She didn’t think anyone else knew she left, before the next day anyway. She thought about reaching out to Emma, trying one last time, but she knew the blonde wouldn’t be interested in what she had to say. Not only had Regina betrayed her with Neal, she broke her promise, invaded the most private of her thoughts, and had lied to her about it. There was no coming back from that._

* * *

 

She thinks about that night more times than she thinks is healthy over the next week, listening in on the thoughts floating around their facility and trying to figure out _anything_. She’s not sure how they’re managing to block her out, but she can’t seem to find any way around it.

It’s a surprise to her when she eventually gets some information from Tink, cooing to Will about how he’ll get a chance to see _the secret room_ because everyone is going on a secret mission.

“I’m nine. Why are you talking to me like I’m a baby?”

“Don’t you want to see the secret room?”

Regina rolls her eyes. “It’s not that interesting. But better to see it when they aren’t there than get curious otherwise. When are they going anyway?”

“Tonight,” Tink says. “I don’t know what time.”

But Regina makes it her mission to find out, and it’s only a handful of hours later that she’s following them in Tink’s car as they head miles down the road to a building Regina suspects is older than Xavier’s school. Something about is vaguely familiar to her, but she dismisses the unease as she circles the block and parks a little ways down, waiting for an appropriate amount of time to pass before sneaking in.

She’s crouched behind a bush in the backyard when someone suddenly appears, knocking into her from the side and sending her toppling over. She scrambles up, assuming a fighting position as best as she can still so low to the ground, when she hears a soft and confused voice. “Regina?”

The brunette squints, making out the faint glow of golden hair in the faint light, a pair of surprised green eyes. Regina wants to smile, but she scowls instead. She’s not sure where her place is in this fight, but she can’t forfeit her alignment just because she might have a shot at forgiveness. “Why do you always interrupt everything I do?”

Emma just shrugs, at a loss. “Honestly I didn’t think I’d find you here.” Regina squints again. “Not hanging out in the bushes anyway. Isn’t this the secret meetup of _your_ people?”

At that Regina scowls again. “I already told you they were going behind my back, didn’t I? Besides, how did you even know to come here?”

“Robin’s a hacker.”

“Oh, so he’s actually doing useful things with his power now? About time. _Lawful good_ only gets a mutant with supernatural _thievery_ so far.”

“You’re one to talk,” Emma mumbles, and Regina wishes she’d thought a little more about that comment before making it. “Anyway, he didn’t have to do too much. Just hack into Rumple’s email and read into a few message threads.”

“Email,” Regina deadpans.

“Uh, yeah.”

Fighting back a laugh, Regina shakes her head. “So who was he corresponding with?”

“I don’t know. The other person must be better at technology than Rumple. Robin couldn’t figure it out.”

“Couldn’t or _wouldn’t_?”

This time Emma is the one to scowl, shifting as if to stand and walk away, but Regina reaches for her hand to stop her. The blonde flinches back. “You haven’t changed, have you?”

“You still trust me,” Regina points out. Emma remains silent. “You still--”

“Don’t,” she says, cutting Regina off.

She drops it, knowing nothing would resolve this, especially not right here and now, but her mind can’t seem to pull itself away from Emma’s denial and somehow finding hope in the unspoken. She can feel a mix of emotions, and she does everything she can to pinpoint one over the others. “What are you so nervous about?”

Emma side eyes her, dodging the question with another of her own. “Do you think we’ll get caught?”

“I don’t know. We should probably find a better position than this though if we want to find anything else. Maybe sneak inside.”

The blonde looks shocked at the suggestion. “You say that like we’re working together.”

“Why not?” Regina asks with a casual shrug, but the look Emma gives her is worth a thousand and one reasons why not.

Emma tears her gaze away before shifting from her crouched position to rest with one knee in the dirt, the other tucked under her chin. She doesn’t verbalize any reason why not, and Regina waits for her to say anything at all before getting too optimistic. Emma could run away from this at any time, teleport anywhere and get the information she needed and leave Regina to fend for herself. But Emma chews on her bottom lip before looking up to Regina with a nod. “Okay,” she says before repeating herself more decided. “Okay, I’ll help you.”

“Thank you,” Regina murmurs.

“I think I’ve got a good idea of a space we can teleport into if we need to go inside, but if you’re… if you can…” Emma struggles to say the words _read their minds_ before she gives up. “Maybe we won’t have to go inside at all.”

“I would…” Regina starts, and Emma looks down at the ground. “But Rumple has me blocked out somehow. To an extent, anyway. That’s why I’m here and not at the Brotherhood’s usual base.”

Emma nods slowly, an idea working its way through. It makes Regina nervous, just by the apprehensive look on the blonde’s face. “Maybe you should open up. Get a read on everyone in the space around you and go from there.”

“But that would include you.”

Regina is surprised that Emma even suggested it, but watching her now through the dark, playing with the strings of her shoelace and refusing to meet Regina’s eye, she wonders if she wishes she hadn’t.

“I won’t do that to you,” Regina offers. “It’s a good idea, but... I can’t.”

Green eyes meet hers, gauging the seriousness within them, and Emma pulls away after a long moment. “Okay. Let’s go inside then.”

It goes a little too smoothly, but maybe this is one of those times where nothing actually goes wrong. It’s not like Regina wouldn’t be able to talk her way out of being here. She _is_ still part of the Brotherhood after all.

They end up in a room on the ground floor, close enough that they can hear voices flowing from a few doors down. At first it’s just Rumple and Killian. Then they pick up on Daniel’s voice, as well as Milah, and then there’s someone they don’t recognize, his voice pretentious and imposing but too low for either woman to hear.

“Regina, can you read his mind? Find out who he is?” Emma asks in a low whisper.

The brunette nods before putting all her focus into reaching out and trying to pick up on his thoughts, but there’s nothing. She tries again, still coming up empty. Her forehead creases as she meets Emma’s gaze. “I don’t know what’s going on. I can’t find him.”

Emma’s eyes hold hers for a moment, intense and serious before her fingers brush against the inside of Regina’s wrist and she nods once. “You know what you need to do. Regina, please. You won’t hear anything from me. Nothing important anyway,” she adds in a mumble.

“Are you sure?” Emma nods again, and Regina takes a silent breath before closing her eyes and dropping her guard, letting all the thoughts around her filter in. She hears a few vague things from Rumple about _he thinks he’s so great, well I am too,_ and an awkward exchange of thoughts between Milah and Killian that they’re oblivious to, and a smug comment from Daniel about how he hopes this means he’s no longer under Rumple’s command or Magneto’s.

Regina is vaguely concerned about Daniel’s commentary on the Brotherhood’s power structure before her ultimate concern takes over. She doesn’t hear the other guy’s thoughts. She focuses a little harder, trying to hear more without getting Emma into the mix, but she’s interrupted by a poke in her side.

“Regina. Did you hear me?”

“What?”

“I’m making sure you’re actually doing it right. Clearly you’re not because you can’t hear me.” Regina rolls her eyes.

“I told you, I wasn’t--”

“Just do it. Stop thinking so hard about it. You won’t hear this new guy at all if you don’t actually open your mind up to _all_ thoughts.”

So she tries again, and the first thing she hears is Emma loudly thinking about food. She turns to glare at Emma. _Can you think a little quieter please?_

_I just wanted to make sure you were doing it right this time. Do you hear anything?_

But she doesn’t. “I don’t understand,” she murmurs. Emma opens her mouth to speak, but before she does, another voice appears in range, and Regina grabs at Emma’s arm. _Wait_.

Just before she can make out the thoughts, all of them seem to shut down, and no matter how hard she tries, she can’t read anyone’s mind. Not even Emma’s. “What is it?” Emma whispers aloud, her panic rising.

“I can’t hear anyone….”

“Not even--”

“No.” She’s at a total loss, her powers having been shut down by something outside of her control. “Is it blocking all powers or just mine?”

Emma shakes her head, “I don’t know.”

“Tell me a lie. Tell me your name is… I don’t know. Mary Margaret.”

The blonde nods before she whispers, “My name is Emma.” She tries again. “My name is… Emma, she fails with a groan. “It’s just you. What about the emotion detection?”

“There’s too much going on for it to be identifiable. Besides, I’m feeling so much right now it would be hard to say what’s mine and what isn’t.”

“I think I can teleport us closer. They’re all in the same room, right? If I can get us to the kitchen, there’ll only a wall between us and them. No closed doors. We can eavesdrop and if something goes wrong, I can get us out of there.”

“You’re putting yourself in a lot of danger for me,” Regina points out as she feels Emma’s hand slipping into hers.

The other woman shrugs. “This is what I would have done anyway.”

When they’re standing in the kitchen only seconds later, Emma drops Regina’s hand, and she feels the loss immediately. Even though she knows that it’ll only take a moment for Emma to take a hold of her again and then teleport, it doesn’t feel as safe.

She dismisses the thought, unwilling to be distracted, and tries to listen for the new voices. The man from before is talking quietly, his voice an an unusually low decibel that makes it sound like he’s only mumbling. She hears him mention _mind control_ and _we can’t control her, it’s too risky_ , and then another voice speaks up.

“She’ll listen to _me_ ,” and Regina freezes. That can’t be who she thinks it is.

“Why don’t we find out,” Rumple gigges. “I think she followed us here.”

Next to Regina, Emma is also frozen, her eyes on the brunette next to her, her head shaking slowly and her hand gripping Regina’s once again.

“Regina, can you come here, please,” the new voice says, the woman’s, and by the time Regina realizes that it’s _exactly_ who she thought it was, she’s walking around the corner and meeting the woman face-to-face.

“Mother.”

Cora smiles at her, fake and unappreciative, and Regina steps towards her, taking in the other people in the room. Killian and Daniel look unimpressed while Milah is oblivious to it all, eyes on her phone. Rumple stands next to a man who looks almost as slimy as he does, only taller and more put together. While Rumple looks giddy and maniacal, the other man looks amused and intrigued.

“So this is Regina?” he asks with a hum before glancing at Cora. “I can see the resemblance.”

Her mother scoffs, “Hardly.”

“You’re both very powerful mutants. Both of your powers are rooted in telepathy, and both of you have a means to obtain control. Though only one of you will take that advantage.” Cora smirks, and Regina looks away.

“I would if I had to.”

The man laughs, “Oh, I have no doubt. I hope I get to see it one day.” He stops for a moment, a hand on his chin in an exaggerated gesture of thought. “I just might. You know, I can’t see the future, but I can imagine,” he says, stepping towards her. His hand reaches for her face, his knuckles gently stroking along her jaw, and Regina flinches back. “I have a feeling you’re going to make this very fun for us.”

Cora hums in what Regina believes to be disapproval. “ _Interesting_ may be a better word.” Regina scoffs, and her mother levels her with a stern glare.

“I’m not going to help you.”

“Yes, you will,” Cora says. “Did you forget my power already?”

The thought of Cora being back is already sending Regina into a panic, but the thought of her using hypnosis over her is too much. She had escaped her mother once, but she’d never thought she would be in a similar situation again. She glances over at Rumple who just smirks, his eyebrows raising enough to indicate that this is a plan in the works, that his allegiance is no longer to Magneto and the Brotherhood but to Cora, this other guy and whatever plan the two of them are trying to accomplish.

It confirms what she’s been so worried about, Rumple and everyone going behind the Brotherhood’s back, but seeing it actually happening before her eyes is more than a little disconcerting. Her head is spinning and she thinks her throat is closing up, due to some kind of mutant presence or anxiety, she isn’t sure, but she’s falling to the ground when she suddenly feels a hand in hers followed by the swimming muddle that could only be Emma’s teleportation.

When her feet are on solid ground again, she’s totally overcome by an all encompassing nostalgic feeling, the atmosphere and the scent of Emma’s room are the same as they used to be, though it’s not the same room. Regina feels the blonde easing her through the room, and Regina sinks onto the bed the minute she reaches it. Everything is spinning, and she has to keep reminding herself that Cora doesn’t have control over her at this far a distance.

“Regina?” Emma’s voice is soft as it drifts through the small space, and it simultaneously wants to make the brunette turn away and also curl into Emma. She ends up just staying in the same position, catatonic as she feels Emma’s fingers brush once through her hair. “Are your powers back? They didn’t find a way to take them did they?”

She hadn’t even considered that.

“Just try it. It’s okay.” So Regina does, just for a second, and it lets her know two things. The first being that she can read minds again. The second being that Emma is incredibly worried about her.

“I’m sorry,” Regina mutters into Emma’s pillow, apologizing for the half second of reading her mind now, the full minute of reading it then, and everything in between.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tell me your thoughts! i'm high key about this chapter and everything to follow it so feel free to be honest with me. all i ask is that you trust me! i have a plan


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i did a poll and this was the fic people wanted to see updated more, so here it goes. while sqsn happens, I want to share some content, but I'm also wildly busy because i have no chill when it comes to writing. this will update regularly on thursdays until i finish it. any feedback would mean the world to me. i'm doing this for you guys <3 i've got so much content coming to you soon, so bear with me while i inch forward until the inevitable explosion in a few months.
> 
> (this is unbeta'd and unedited so i'm sorry for mistakes)

When Emma wakes up the next morning, there’s a warm body curled up against her, holding her so close that she’s afraid even breathing will cause a disturbance. She glances over out of the corner of her eye to a sleepy and content Regina, and if Emma hadn’t have been up late  _ daydreaming _ of a moment like this as they each slept on opposite ends of the blonde’s bed, she would have jumped in surprise.

Instead she just smiles and wonders why she feels like she’s allowed. They’re certainly on better terms as they’ve been forced back together, and Emma  _ trusts _ Regina again to an extent, but they’re nowhere near the level where platonic cuddling exists, especially not when there are so many unoccupied beds in the school. Regina could have any of them.

But that’s a conversation for another time when the brunette in question is snoring lightly in her sleep, looking like she’s getting adequate rest for the first time in months. Maybe even years. It makes sense though, curling up to someone with physical healing powers are bound to  leave you more rejuvenated. It’s why Emma’s so good at naps.

Leaving bed with Regina clinging to her won’t be an easy feat as Emma soon finds out, but fortunately her powers seem to be all kinds of useful today, and she begrudgingly teleports herself from Regina’s warm embrace into the kitchen, shivering the minute her bare feet are flat on the tile floor. 

_ At least there’s coffee _ , she shrugs.

She’s pouring herself a sizable mug when a voice sounds behind her. She jumps, nearly dropping the mug and spilling coffee everywhere, but she pulls herself together at the last minute and saves it. “Jesus Christ!” she spins around to see Mary Margaret sitting alone at the table, her own mug of coffee in her hands. 

The other woman’s eyes are wide as they stare at Emma. “Wow, I really startled you.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Emma mutters, resuming her coffee preparation. “How long have you been there?” Mary Margaret opens her mouth to answer, but Emma waves her free hand as she walks to the table, tabing the seat across from her friend. “I know, I know. I can’t just be teleporting around all willy nilly.” She sighs into her coffee. 

“Are you okay?” Mary Margaret asks again, not scaring Emma this time.

The blonde snorts. “You tell me.”

Mary Margaret is quiet for a long moment, the lines across her forehead indicative of her power put to use without her necessarily wanting it to, and Emma avoids eye contact like no tomorrow. A part of her wants to hear nothing from her friend, but another part of her would appreciate the self analysis when she isn’t even sure of what she’s feeling herself.

“I just get the feeling that something happened.”

It’s vague enough to irritate Emma. “Why?” she asks, deadpan.

“You seem…” Mary Margaret trails off, pursing her lips as she tries to find the right word. Her eyes are on Emma, but the blonde still refuses to look at her, as if doing so would make her even more transparent to the other woman. “Lighter. Less burdened…” she settles on. “A little afraid.”

It’s then that Emma looks up at her. Her friend smiles once before turning back to the book she was reading, letting the blonde know that they don’t have to continue the conversation unless she chooses so, which she doesn’t. “I’ll see you later,” she mumbles as she heads over to Xavier’s office, stretching her legs as she walks and trying not to spill her coffee.

He’s already awake and completely put together, and he smiles up at her when she knocks before slowly pushing the door open. “Emma,” he greets, and the blonde nods before making herself at home. “I expect we’re about to have an important conversation…”

He already knows.  _ Of course _ he does.

But Emma takes a large gulp of her coffee anyways, nearly spitting it out when Xavier suddenly says, “So she’s here.” The blush on her face spreads furiously, and he grins at her, chuckling softly. Emma wants to disappear on the spot, but that would be rude. Not to mention, she’d spill her coffee. “She’s looking for you.”

“What?” Emma asks with wide eyes, spinning around as if she’d just be standing there in the middle of the room.

“You should go to her. We’ll talk later. I have a feeling she has a lot to tell me.”

“Uh, yeah… Sorry to…” she gestures around with one hand, only stopping when the professor laughs. “See you later.”

The kitchen isn’t far away, but Emma walks back, finishing her coffee as she goes, hoping to have it done so she can leave the mug in its place before finding Regina. For the second time today, she nearly sends the ceramic mug crashing to the ground. This time it’s Regina’s fault, standing in the middle of the kitchen wearing Emma’s clothes, avoiding Mary Margaret’s wide eyes as she seems to make the connection between Emma’s sudden shift in emotions. 

Emma can only hope she doesn’t voice any more observations for the day. Especially not the one happening right now, where she’s incredibly flustered at the sight of Regina in her hoodie and pajama bottoms. 

She tries to hide all feelings she has on the matter and outs on a casual front.

“You just make it worse when you do that,” Mary Margaret says, taking a long sip of her tea.

“Do what?” Emma asks, knowing full well  _ what _ , but choosing instead to play dumb.

The other woman just smirks before standing to exit the room, leaving the two of them alone. A beat of silence passes where Emma keeps forcing the blush of her face and trying not to notice the brunette’s smirk. “She’s right,” Regina comments, and Emma glances at her blankly.

She tries to deny it with an  _ I don’t know what you’re talking about _ , but she can’t. She settles instead for a shrug, “Whatever.”

Emma’s managed to get her blush under control, but it hardly matters anymore as the other woman turns away from her to pour herself some coffee. 

“How’d you sleep?” Emma finds herself asking. She wants to kick herself for the small talk, but Regina doesn’t seem to mind.

“Very well,” she answers. “You know I always slept better when I slept with you.”

So much for having her blush under control.

Emma clears her throat. “So, we’re gonna have to talk to Xavier later, about everything,” she starts, changing the subject. “He knows you’re here, but since some of what happened is more personal to you, I thought you’d like to be the one to share it.”

“That’s very considerate of you,” Regina tells her, hiding her smile behind her coffee. 

The blonde doesn’t know what to say again, so she nods as she messes with random things she comes across on the kitchen counter. Opening and closing a pair of scissors, flipping through a book, reorganizing a small pile of clutter… “Was Mary Margaret surprised to see you?”

Regina shrugs lightly. “Not really.” Emma frowns. The answer is honest, and Emma can say she was expecting the honest answer to be a stark  _ yes _ , especially given Mary Margaret’s analysis of her emotions not even an hour ago. Ultimately, Emma decides to refrain from commenting.

Instead she finds herself leaning against the counter, her eyes on Regina’s bare legs as she turns away, Emma’s shorts riding up just below--

“So!” Emma loudly starts. “Do you want to go by your place and get some of your stuff?” Regina looks at her with wide eyes. “You know, like clothes or whatever. I mean, assuming you’re staying here. I kind of figured that after what happened, you can’t exactly go back there.”

“Then you’ve just answered your own question.”

“Oh.”

“But you do have a point. I can’t wear your clothes forever,” she says with a knowing smirk. Emma looks away. “If only I knew someone with teleportation powers willing to help me… Oh wait. I do.”

“Woah,” Emma says, holding her hands up, “I never said I was willing.”

“That look in your eyes begs to differ.” And well, Emma can’t argue with that. “Tell me you don’t want to help me, and I won’t ask you to,” she says, her expression growing serious.

It’s the ultimate test, really, only without any form of manipulation. Emma physically can’t say she doesn’t want to help, but they both know that any statement that begins with  _ I want to help, but… _ would be close enough to a  _ no _ , and Regina would drop the whole thing.

“Okay, look. I’ll help you. I do have a concern though,  _ which is _ if going in there isn’t safe for you, how am I supposed to be okay doing the same thing?”

“Lily’s going to help us. She’ll also be coming back with you.”

That catches Emma by surprise. “She will?” She’s a little unsure, mostly because Regina’s cut and dry, definitive sounding statements aren’t as full of factual truths as they should be. “You haven’t asked her yet, have you?”

“No, but she’s the only one over there I can trust to follow my lead,” she explains as her expression grows more concentrated. “I’m talking to her right now.” Emma isn’t totally surprised, but she leaves Regina to make necessary communications while Emma disappears to change for the adventure. By the time she’s ready, Regina is prepared with all the information Emma will need. 

She gives her the buildings layout, describing her room so that Emma won’t end up teleporting to the wrong place. “Lily is packing up my stuff now, as well as her own. She should be in my room ready to just come back here, as long as everything goes according to plan.” Emma snorts. “I’m sure everything will be fine. Lily told me that Rumple and Killian aren’t even there.”

Emma frowns. “They should be though… right?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they’re moving locations. But regardless, you should act fast. I don’t trust some of the others, and I’d feel better if you weren’t in harm’s way.” The statement is genuine, and it makes Emma blush again. Regina smiles at her.

“Ready?”

“I guess…” Emma shrugs. She’s not really sure what to expect, but as long as she’s just going in and coming back out, she doesn’t see how this could go wrong. “Are you sure you trust me enough for this? I mean, I could bring you with me…”

“I trust you.”

All she has to do is say the words. She has no need to attach them to any other sentiments, any other explanation. There's no reason to make any particular expressions, because they both know that the words alone are enough. Emma knows that Regina trusts her, and she gives her a final nod.

“We'll be back,” she says.

“Be safe,” Regina responds, smiling just as Emma disappears and reappears in a different room in a different building.

The first thing she noticed is that it smells like Regina.

The second thing she notices is a half packed bag on the bed, a closed door, and the emptiness of the room that should be occupied with Lily.

Frowning, Emma moves towards the door, hesitating before cracking it open. She jumps when Regina’s voice appears in her head.  _ Emma, Lily told me that something was wrong. Are you okay? What’s going on? _

_ Yeah, _ Emma thinks. She keeps her mind open as she slips from the door. Regina doesn’t try to stop her, so either she’s left or she’s just as curious as Emma is, but the minute she’s in the hallway, moving closer and closer to the stairs leading down, the voices become clear. 

Emma freezes. 

It’s the same man from the other night.

_ Emma you need to-- _

But then Regina’s cut off. 

For a moment, the blonde is at a loss for what she ought to do. She doesn’t want to leave without Lily or Regina’s things. She was counting on her to do this one thing. She trusts her to get it done. Emma doesn’t want to sabotage anything that could bring the two of them back to a friendly level, so she takes a step forward, listening for Lily’s voice.

When she hears it downstairs, she doesn’t have a clue as to what she should do. She obviously can’t make herself known because that would only make things worse. She could take Regina's stuff and go without Lily. It’s not like they couldn’t find a better time to come back for her…

It’s the plan Emma’s decided would be best, and she’s about to turn back when something suddenly brushes against her. She spins around but sees nothing. She must have been imagining things.

But a step back in the right direction has her colliding with something she can’t see, and she realizes it’s probably the shady invisible woman Regina warned her about before she’s being shoved backwards.

As she staggers, she tries to catch herself, thinking it might be worth a try to teleport now, but she’s falling before she can, not confident enough in her surroundings not to screw herself up even further.

In the end, it doesn’t matter, because when Emma’s back hits the ground with a hard  _ thud _ , she opens her eyes and is horrified to see the same man from last night, smirking down at her. “Well, well. Look what we have here. Just the person I wanted to see.”

“What?” Emma blurts, caught off guard. He reaches out his hand to help her up, and she accepts out of instinct but regrets it instantly. As soon as he has her pulled to her feet, his other hand, balled into a fist, collides hard with the side of her face, knocking her back down again.

She groans, and the man laughs, actually amused.

It’s the last sound Emma registers before there’s another blow to her side, another to her face. She feels herself picked up again before she’s knocked back down, and it’s all happening too fast for her to react. No one steps in to help her, and she finally manages a swing at the man after a succession of harsh blows. She can hardly see, so it’s a miracle she hits him at all, much less sends him staggering backwards and stopping his attack on her. He makes an impressed noise that she dismisses, trying to find Lily in the few seconds she likely has.

One of her eyes is too swollen, and everything looks a little blurry out the other, but as her healing kicks in, it clears up enough for her to see the man standing back, blood on his hands as he stares down at it. Emma can’t be bothered by his weird fetishes or whatever the hell it is, especially not when she feels an arm link with hers. “Emma, can you get us out of here?” Lily whispers.

Emma can’t nod, and she knows she won’t make it very far in her condition  _ and _ with Lily. They make it to Regina’s bedroom. “Sorry,” she says. “I can’t…”

“It’s okay,” Lily says. “I’ll get us out of here.” She props Emma up enough to get a backpack over her shoulders that the blonde can only assume is Regina's. “Alright, Emma. This is gonna be a little rough,” she warns before the two of them are crashing through the window, falling for a moment before Lily catches them, her wings spread out as she takes them back in the air, high enough that they won’t be easily seen, but not so high that Emma will have a hard time breathing.

Emma’s thinking about Regina the whole time, and after they’ve moved some distance away, she can hear the woman in her head again, like she was clinging to Emma’s headspace, not letting go until she knew she was alive.  _ Emma, oh my god. _

_ We’re coming back, _ Emma thinks. 

She hardly has the energy to say much else, and Lily tightens her hold on Emma. “It’s okay. We’ll talk to her when we get there.”

The doors are open for them when they arrive, and Lily makes as graceful of a landing as she can with Emma, but they both fall to the ground once inside. Emma’s healed significantly on the way over, though she still feels incredibly weak and probably looks even worse, but just a glance over at Lily is enough to decide that the woman needs her healing power more than she does herself, nearly passed out from exhaustion. Emma grabs her hand to help, and as she does, she feels someone at her other side.

She knows it’s Regina without having to look, but she looks anyway and offers her a tired smile. “Hey, we’re back.”

The brunette doesn’t return the smile. “He was there.”

She isn’t asking, but still, she’s looking for confirmation in Emma’s eyes. Emma keeps hers on Regina’s admittedly a little lost in them and in what all of this means, she hadn’t thought that when anything odd started happening that it would lead to anything this bad. She never expected to be facing some unknown Big Bad with Regina by her side, but clearly the universe has other plans.

“Regina, that guys is bad news. And yeah... He was there.”

“Is he the one that did this to you?” she asks, her hand brushing lightly along Emma’s face. She nods. 

Lily groans next to her, and takes her hand back. “Thanks,” she mumbles.

“You good?”

“Yeah I just need some water. Maybe to sleep for the next week. Never go to the gym again,” she laughs once before propping herself up, and Emma does the same with Regina’s help. 

The atrium is no longer empty, and Marian rushes to help Lily while Belle takes their bags. Regina doesn’t budge from Emma’s side, and her eyes remained focussed on her face. “We need to get you cleaned up,” she mutters, pulling her along to the nearest washroom.

Neither of them speak as Regina takes a warm cloth to Emma’s face, gently washing away the blood. The wounds have already healed, so the mess they made is Emma’s only problem. She frowns down at the clothm now stained red, remembering the last glimpse she caught of the man who seems so against them, staring at her blood on his hands. The way he hadn’t been lying when he said he’d wanted to see Emma.

Did he need her blood? What was he trying to achieve?

She wonders if she should tell Regina. Or Xavier. A part of her wonders if she’d been imagining it. It wasn’t like she was in the most attentive state. Maybe it was nothing.

“What is it?” Regina suddenly asks. Emma hadn’t even noticed that she’d stopped cleaning her face or that she was now looking at her like she would break any second. The blonde can’t tell her that it’s nothing, but she can smile as reassuring as she can, even though she’s sure that Regina can sense that Emma doesn’t feel comforted herself.

“Thank you,” she says instead. Regina squints just slightly before forcing a smile in return.

“I’ll be here when you’re ready to talk about it.” Emma nods. “Speaking of which, we have a few things to discuss out there, if you feel up for it.” Emma nods again.

As soon as they step out from the washroom and make their way to the common area everyone has gathered in, no one is speaking. A few glance somberly up at Emma and Regina, and Neal gets up from his place on the couch to offer it to them, moving across the room. The have to sit close, but they manage, and Emma finds that she doesn’t mind the proximity.

What she does mind is the depressing vibe around the room.

“So… what’s going on?” she asks.

Xavier sighs. “Erik just called.” Regina looks up in surprise. “The Brotherhood, short of him and the two of you,” he says, nodding to Regina and Lily, “has rebelled. Erik’s on his way here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tell me your thoughts! show support! i could seriously use it lol


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i didn't edit this one either so again, i'm sorry for any mistakes

(Regina)

 

None of this surprises Regina in the slightest, but she’s still nervously anticipating Magneto’s arrival. In retrospect, she can’t rationalize why she ever assumed any of Rumple or Killian’s actions were for some greater purpose that Erik had just… neglected to mention, and she knows he’s going to ask her what she was thinking, or more importantly, what were  _ they  _ thinking.

Honestly, it’s all such a mess.

And on top of it all, she’s surrounded by all these people she’d just abandoned years ago after something that should have played out much differently, and the feelings around the room are so garbled, it’s hard to make anything out. There’s a large portion of it that’s nerves and fear and worry, and with every furtive glance her way, Regina settles on the belief that it’s somehow her fault.

“Hey,” Emma says as she pokes her in the side. “What’s wrong?”

She casts a look in the blonde’s direction before shaking her head. Emma drops the subject, not asking about anything further, much to Regina’s relief. For the most part, everyone had decided to disperse while awaiting Magneto’s arrival, going off to busy themselves with something or distract themselves in some way, until it was eventually only a few of them in the room. Neal and August talking quietly at a table off in the corner, Mary Margaret and David doing the same from a couch nearby, and of course… Emma, on the couch next to her. 

She’d slid over when everyone else had gotten up, giving Regina more space, and she wasn’t doing anything besides messing around on her phone, occasionally peering at Regina out of her peripheral vision. 

Regina kept ignoring that.

“I’m going outside,” she announces to the room suddenly, making Mary Margaret jump slightly. “Sorry,” Regina mumbles as she stood to leave, giving Emma a solid nod before she exits the room. 

She’s grateful that there isn’t anyone else out there and that Emma doesn’t follow, just appreciating the chance to be away from everyone. Being back was overwhelming to say the least, especially under such potentially dire circumstances. She can’t help but wonder what coming back might have been like if she’d done it a year ago, just walking away from the Brotherhood and asking if she was still welcome… coming back to a few people she knew from her past rather than what was almost everyone.

It’s just a lot to happen at once.

“Regina,” a voice says from behind her, making her freeze on the spot. Of course she’s the first one he would talk to upon arrival. She turns to face him, avoiding eye contact for as long as she can. She can feel his tension, his anger, and she understands why he feels the way he does, but she doesn’t want to just stand there and take it. 

“Oh look who finally decided to show up,” she snaps, and his face looks mildly surprised before twitching just slightly with anger, and she knows she pushed a nerve.

“Look, you could have just told me what was happening. You could have taken initiative--”

“I shouldn’t have  _ had _ to take initiative. I don’t care that Rumple’s been a part of the Brotherhood for so long now or that you basically raised Killian. You know they’re ultimately unreliable.” She scoffs before adding, “You think you’d know a thing or two about being unreliable.”

“Excuse me?” He gapes at her, pointing a shaky finger at her as his anger rises along with her own. “You’re one to talk. You could have stopped them at any point, but instead you had to wimp out and bow down to a moral code you should have abandoned when you left this place to begin with. You knew what you were getting yourself into.”

“And  _ you _ knew where I came from. You know who my mother is, Erik. You can’t just expect me to do the same thing she used against me my whole childhood to other people.” His face softens then, and the anger starts to fade. Regina looks away, irritated by her own vulnerability. 

His hand rests on her shoulder for a moment. “I get it. You don’t want to be weak, but you don’t want to become her.” Regina looks away. “I know you though, Regina. You won’t become her. You aren’t like her now.”

After another moment of hesitation, Regina looks back up, deciding to go ahead and fill him in on some of what’s going on. “She’s back, by the way. That’s why I’m  _ here _ . I was trying to get to the bottom of everything, so I followed Rumple and ended up at this other safe house. Emma was there too, which was good because my powers got blocked.”

“Blocked?” Magneto asks with a frown.

Regina nods, “I couldn’t read anything. It’s different from whatever my mother’s powers control,” she says. “Emma’s powers still worked though, so she teleported us inside, moving us closer until we were right on the other side of the wall. Rumple, Killian, and some of their new crew were there, and then my mother was there. She was with another man I didn’t recognize, and Emma got us out of there, luckily, but when she went to get Lily, the same man was at our base. We don’t know who he is,” Regina explains. “I couldn’t reach them telepathically then either.”

He frowns at that, clearly thinking through something until he finally dismisses it with a shake of his head. “We’re going to figure this out. We should get back inside. Find Charles.”

They turn to head inside together, and Regina glances over at the man next to her, eyes on the ground as he takes slow steps forward. “Are you apprehensive about working with him again?”

He snorts, “I could ask you the same about Emma.”

With a blush, Regina shakes her head, responding in a voice quieter than she anticipated. “It’s not the same.”

“Isn’t it?” He asks with a knowing smile.

Regina scowls, “ _ No _ ,” she insists firmly. “Because you and the professor are friends. Emma and I… we’re…” She trails off when she realizes she’s about to say something she can’t take back, not that she even knows what that is. She trusts Magneto though, and from the look he’s giving her, she’s sure none of this will be news, but before she can settle on the words to finish out her thought, the person in question appears in front of them, and speaks first. They both jump.

“Hey, sorry,” Emma greets them with an uncomfortable smile and wave. “We’re about to make a plan, so…” she gestures inside. Regina holds her breath, waiting for her to teleport again so she can try to finish her thought before they get inside, but instead, Emma turns and starts walking back. 

Magneto smirks. 

“Shut up,” Regina mutters as they follow Emma back inside.

* * *

 

The next hour is a little chaotic, a few people trying to explain some of what’s been happening, a few more sharing their thoughts on what might be helpful, everyone talking over each other. Magneto just sits there with his eyes closed, and it’s not until Xavier says, “Alright, everyone can stop talking now; we have an idea,” that anyone realizes they were talking for nothing. Regina snorts.

“Alright, so we need to figure out who we’re dealing with, and we need to get the boy back.” Xavier nods. “Since we don’t know who this man is or what he’s capable of, we’re all going to go together. If he’s working with Cora and if Rumple sought him out, then we can only assume he’s very powerful.”

“This doesn’t have to be a big fight,” Xavier adds, “But we shouldn’t assume that it can’t become that. They’re up to something, and if they are keeping it from Erik, it’s likely something immoral, but we didn’t raise up our team for nothing. Merlin is going to come back while we’re gona and protect the school as he was before, but otherwise, we’re all going to be ready.”

It’s decided that Regina and Erik will be going in first, trying to diffuse the tension as people familiar with the lair and many of the people working inside it, outside of the obvious wild cards manipulated to be against them. They’ll try to calmly talk out whatever needs to be discussed, and in the meantime, Robin will be doing what he can to find Will and get him out of there, pleased that his supernatural thievery is being put to good use. 

He’ll get the boy outside, where Emma will be waiting to teleport Will back to the school and lead him inside under Merlin’s forcefield protection, and as long as that happens, and Magneto and Regina can manage to get some kind of information on the mystery villain without anything going wrong, everyone will head back to safety.

It half works out at least. 

Robin gets to will undetected, snatching him right out from under Tink’s nose, and carries him outside to Emma. Regina sees them disappearing with him from outside the window as she ignores her mother in front of her, not saying anything but staring at Regina as if she can take control of her like she used to. She refuses to look at her, to fall under her spell, especially when she isn’t sure her powers will stick around for the entirety of this visit.

Unfortunately, her lips had quirked up just enough when she met Emma’s eyes to get her mother’s attention. Cora spins to the window just after they’ve disappeared, and Regina’s eyes widen as she looks back to her mother, who catches her eyes with a smirk.

Next to her, Magneto shifts, recognizing the moment everything shifted, and Rumple giggles in delight when he takes a step back. “Regina, let’s go,” he says firmly, but Regina can’t move, kept in place buy her own mother, who speaks without taking her eyes from her daughter.

“None of you are going anywhere.” 

All Regina can do is stare forward, frozen in place as she hears the man order everyone to get the others, and she assumed they mean their people waiting outside to help, but when the large room is suddenly filled with the rest of the people they recognize as who Rumple collected, as well as some new members, Magneto clears his throat nervously.

Regina’s waiting for him to signal the others, but so far nothing is happening, and she’s still trapped in a mental hold with her mother’s hypnosis. Unless something happens to knock her off guard, Regina’s stuck where she is. 

As if on cue, there’s a sudden crash from the same spot Emma had disappeared from only moments before, and Cora spins around on instinct, dropping her hold on Regina, who looks in the same direction, horrified when she realizes that Emma had not only returned, but she’d returned without Robin, who would have helped her stay undetected. 

Instead, Emma’s now trapped under Cora’s hypnosis, trapped where she is, and that’s when the rest of the room starts to fill up with each opposing side, Magneto having finally signalled the rest. 

Regina backs p, trying to grasp what’s going on. There’s so much to look at, and people are at each other’s throats before anything can even be said. She’s watching this new person with water manipulation shoot tap water at Neal, who becomes defenseless until Ariel steps in, giving him enough time to try and fore back. They cancel each other out. 

Magneto is fighting with Killian, who’s going after him relentlessly, and then Lily is there, staring at someone Regina’s never seen before looking almost as shocked as the woman in front of her. Xavier makes his way to intervene, but the woman smirks before literally breathing fire at him before going full dragon and tackling Lily out the window.

She makes eye contact with the mystery villain, who raises an eyebrow in challenge, causing Regina to note that her powers haven’t been blocked yet. The man is standing there causing no harm to anyone, and it sets Regina on edge. The rest of her friends and his team are fighting around them, and she’s tempted to freeze him with her mind control, ready to pull information out of him, but the minute she tries, her powers become blocked again and he advances on her until she’s cornered.

“You’re the one who’s doing that, aren’t you?” she sneers, and he just laughs once.

“Psychic shield,” he shrugs, “Though that should be the least of your concerns. I have more power than anyone in this room. In this building…”

She snorts, “What about that dragon outside? Or the three of us that aren’t here.”

His expression back to her is an irritated politeness. “I think I would tell you that there’s only one person more powerful than I am, but he’s not exactly around... yet,” Regina’s brow furrows. “In fact, you’re going to help me bring him here.”

“Why would I help you?” Regina responds, her face a picture of defiance.

“You don’t have a choice,” he responds, and it’s the last thing she hears him say before his fist knocks her backwards into the wall.

* * *

 

The fight doesn’t last too much longer, both sides running out of steam, and when Regina comes to once more, she’s in the same spot, and winces when she sees how bad things have gotten. There are less people around than she remembers, and she thinks for a moment that Emma’s been helping teleport them all out until she catches sight of the blonde nearly comatose across the room, someone else she doesn’t recognize holding her down.

She doesn’t know why her powers are back, and she doesn’t care. She makes the executive decision to take control of the woman’s mind to get her off of Emma, but as soon as she has a hold on the woman’s mind, she hears her think towards her,  _ Oh I wouldn’t do that if I were you _ .

She does it anyway, finding out the hard way that this woman has a life absorption power, limited enough that she can’t actually kill anyone, but Regina feels immediately weaker as she tries to control her long enough to get her away from Emma, but it’s ultimately no use, as she becomes a victim instead, slowly losing her control on the other woman until the mystery villain suddenly speaks from behind Regina, still crouched on the floor.

“Cruella stop. We’re letting them leave.”

She frowns, almost a pout. “Fine,” she grumbles as she stands and marches off, linking her arm with the other woman Regina doesn’t know with the water manipulation and leaving the room. The man motions for everyone else to follow, and then stands as if about to address the remaining X-Men. 

“Before you go,” he starts obnoxiously, “I just want to thank you for this thrilling time, as well as an especially big thank you to Regina, who supplied me with the missing piece to my puzzle. My plan can officially be put to work.”

“What plan?” Magneto growls from across the room, determined not to leave without information. 

“Hmm sorry, that question isn’t a part of the  _ get to know me _ survey.” Regina rolls her eyes. “It doesn’t matter though, none of you are going to stop me.” 

Magneto laughs, “Sure, whatever you say.” He nods once to Regina, who tries to extract the plan herself, but he blocks her again like its nothing. Before he can though, she manages to pick up one little detail, hopefully enough for them to continue forward with.

His name is Hades.

* * *

 

(Emma)

Everyone makes it back to the school safely, although there’s more injuries than necessary, both physical and emotional as it turns out, and much to Emma’s irritation, they make an executive decision to keep the forcefield up around the school.

“Fine,” she pouts. “I’ll wait outside. Heal in the grass or whatever.” But unfortunately, Regina’s the one helping her walk back inside, and Emma is powerless to leave her side, literally once they’ve walked inside, so she has no choice but to be led through the school.

“Do you want to go to your room or somewhere else?” Regina asks her. Emma just grumbles, leaving Regina to choose for her. “Alright, bedroom it is.”

It’s the second time they’ve been alone in Emma’s room, and she can’t decide how she feels about that. She’s glad they’re getting along again, but the pace at which this forgiveness is going keeps bordering on too much intimacy than Emma thinks she’s okay with. She’s let her guard down around Regina, but that doesn’t mean she’s ready to leave it down. There’s still so much left unsaid.

Regina insists on caring for Emma, getting a towel for her head, some water to drink, and even some kind of snack in case she feels weak, and everytime Emma tries to point out that Regina should probably sit down, that she still has some dried blood on her face from where she’d been hit earlier, and that she might have a concussion, she finds another way to veer the conversation away from her current state and back to Emma.

“Did you get any information from that guy? Or did he block you out again?”

Regina’s eyes widen a little before she stands up, too quickly, Emma thinks, still convinced she has a concussion. “I forgot to tell them his name!”

“Maybe you should do that,” Emma points out. “And tell them to drop the field so that if you remember anything else so you won’t have to go find them to tell them?” she suggests.

“You just don’t want me to leave, do you?” she chuckles. Emma doesn’t say anything. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“I think they’re talking to Will,” Emma offers before Regina slips out of the room. She counts to sixty before trying to stand, and then another thirty before walking out the door. She winces with every step she takes, irritated that it doesn’t get any better.  _ It will soon enough _ , she thinks as she makes her way outside. 

She gets far enough away that she can feel her powers kicking in, and doesn’t hesitate before lying down in the grass. She’s sure someone will find her here eventually, but at least she’ll have healed up by then.

If someone had told her that Regina would be the one to find her, she wouldn’t be surprised. She heard her calling out for her not too far from her location, and she’s healed up enough that she could teleport somewhere else, but she decides against it just as Regina breathes out in relief. “There you are.”

Emma sits up and tugs Regina down by the hem of her shirt. She passes her the bottle of water she’d brought with her. “Drink this,” she says as she takes Regina’s hand in hers, waiting expectantly. Regina’s brow furrows.

“What are you doing?”

“Healing you,” Emma tells her. “I think you have a concussion.”

Regina’s face softens as she watches her, their eyes locked on one another’s. “They decided to drop the forcefield. We can do this inside you know.”

Emma shakes her head once, “I don’t want to go inside. Tell me what happened back there.”

Regina takes a deep breath before she recounts the story, starting at the part where Emma disappeared, the way Cora took her over and how Emma saved her from it. She summarizes the beginning of the fight, mentioning the new people she didn’t recognize, and then eventually she gets to the mystery leader, Hades, who apparently has some big plan involving some other mystery person that Regina’s going to be forced to help bring around.

Emma frowns as she talks. Something about this doesn’t seem right, but she can’t place what it is. She thinks about the man being pleased to see her, looking oddly thrilled at her blood on his hands, and she wonders if he’s done the same to Regina’s. She decides not to mention it. It’s not like she was conscious for any of this most recent fight anyways.

“What happened to me? All I remember is that crazy lady grabbing me after I made it to your mom. I don’t remember anything after that.”

“She has a life absorption power,” Regina explains, her eyes dropping down to her and Emma’s still intertwined fingers. “Emma, you should have been more careful. You deserve better than to be hurt like that. You’re wonderful for putting others first, but if the cost is you getting hurt…” 

Emma pulls her hand away then as if burned by the contact. “You don’t get to make those calls for me, you know.”

“Emma, I wasn’t--”

“You don’t even know what you’re talking about. You don’t know what hurts me.” The blonde shakes her head. “You don’t know me at all do you, Regina? I have healing powers. I can get people out of danger in seconds. I’ve literally been shot in the chest before. I don’t  _ care _ that I’m putting myself in danger because physical injuries are only minor setbacks. If you were really worried about my wellbeing, you wouldn’t’ve--” 

She cuts herself off with a harsh breath in, realizing exactly where this conversation is headed. This isn’t what she had intended, but it was bound to happen eventually. She just isn’t sure now is the best time.

It’s too late now though, she supposes as she watches Regina’s face change, looking defensive and hurt at the almost accusation. “Wouldn’t have what?” 

Emma scoffs as she stands up, not offering Regina a hand and instead turning away. “You know what.”

There’s a sharp intake of breath before Regina says, “Emma, that was years ago,” and Emma spins around, upset and shocked and in disbelief that that’s all Regina has to say on the matter. She isn’t looking at Emma anymore, her eyes closed as if she wishes she could take those words back, but it’s too late. They’ve already come out, this conversation has already started, and Emma isn’t going to back down now that it has.

“Just because I have healing powers doesn’t mean I’ve moved on,” she all but shouts at Regina. “I haven’t.”

She knows the moment the conversation takes a turn when she sees Regina’s face soften, and she thinks she sees tears in the other woman’s eyes, but she turns away to hide her own before she can be sure.

It’s frustrating, because she’s always vulnerable around Regina, but this time she’s the one who said the words out loud. She made the decision to stay out here instead of going back inside where this all might have been prevented, but it couldn’t have been put off forever.

She hears Regina take a step closer to her and Emma shakes her head, “Don’t.” Her voice is quiet and broken, and she thinks it’s to blame for Regina moving even closer. “Regina, I don’t want to talk to you,” she tries again, but she stays in place.

She feels warm hands pulling her closer until she’s facing Regina, flush against her, feeling one of the other woman’s hands tangle into her hair. She gives up and rests her head on the brunette’s shoulder. “We don't have to talk until you’re ready.”

She doesn’t apologize, she doesn’t further the conversation, she just holds Emma while she cries into the crook of her neck. They stay there for a while, and Emma wishes the whole time that maybe she doesn’t have powers to heal her emotionally, but maybe Regina’s arms could be enough.

It’s a little embarrassing later when everyone’s heading to sleep, and Emma kind of wants to ask if Regina can stay with her again even though she knows she shouldn’t. She ends up mumbling something about, “What if you’re still not fully healed from earlier?” Even though they spent the better part of the day making enough contact that Regina’s health is likely no longer a problem. 

She  _ has _ to know that, but Emma gives her one of  _ those _ looks that Regina returns with a gentle smile and a nod.

When they climb into bed that night, they still haven’t addressed the elephant in the room, and Emma’s not sure she really wants to, but seeing as she invited the woman to sleep in her bed, not talking about it would honestly be ridiculous at this point. So she sighs, and Regina turns to look at her. “What is it?”

“I’m a little nervous,” Emma admits, fiddling with a loose string on her sheets, holding her breath as she feels Regina shift to face her. 

“We’ve shared a bed before,” the other woman jokes, and Emma just snorts.

“We need to talk,” she responds, and she hears Regina swallow in the silence.

“We do.”

Neither of them say anything for a while. Emma isn’t sure where to start, and she isn’t even sure she should  _ be  _  the one to start. Even if she was the one to initiate the conversation, she feels Regina has the floor.

Eventually, so much silence has passed that Emma decides to say something, but Regina interrupts her before she can even begin.

“I thought you had a crush on August,” she blurts out.

Emma releases a surprised laugh, “I’m gay.”

“I also thought Neal had a crush on you.”

“He’s gay, too!”

“Wait, what?”

Emma turns to look at Regina, and she can’t help but laugh when she sees how genuinely shocked she is. “Regina, he was one of the GSA founders back in the day. All three of us were. August, Neal, and me.” She just stares blankly at Emma. “You must have known that…”

“He wasn’t hitting on me that night?”

“No,” Emma snorts. “He was doing that stupid thing where he tries making someone jealous by being stupid.”

Regina gapes at her. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“You don’t have to sound so beat up about it. Sorry you didn’t have a chance with him, but--”

“You knew that this whole time?” Regina asks her, no longer lying in bed. She’s sitting up, turned towards Emma, and the blonde sits up to match her position, getting a little irritated that Regina is so blatantly upset at the news that Neal never liked her. “He wasn’t the only one, Regina says next, and this time, it’s Emma’s turn to be confused. 

“What are you talking about?” Emma asks. “I thought  _ you _ had a crush on Neal.”

Regina makes a retching noise in response, “The only person I’ve ever had a crush on is  _ you _ .”

_ Oh. _

Emma stares breathlessly at Regina, who looks away the second the words leave her mouth. She shakes her head, and Emma isn’t even sure what to say. “I was going to tell you he wasn’t serious. I thought you liked him, and I was mad at him for using you to make August jealous when he  _ knew _ I liked you. But then you… you broke your promise, reading my mind like that. Then I was mad at both of you.”

“I was trying to make you jealous too. Like you said, it’s a stupid thing to do.”

“Maybe not  _ that _ stupid if it worked.”

“Actually  _ really _ stupid because I upset you.”

“Because you read my mind,” Emma points out.

Regina has nothing to say to that, sighing deeply and letting the silence fall back between them, and Emma watches as she turns away. It’s not until Emma makes the decision to slide over, sitting at Regina’s knees as she faces her, and reaches to tilt Regina’s face back toward her that either of them speak.

“I’m sorry,” Regina tells her, closing her eyes. “I loved you,” she admits. “I was scared. You ran off, and I thought you were angry at me, and all I wanted was to fix it.”

“Then fix it.”

Regina’s eyes open again. “What?”

“Fix it. Tell me what you would have said when you found me. Pretend you didn’t read my mind.”

The other woman looks nervous as she takes Emma’s hand in hers. She slides forward so that her torso is almost aligned with Emma’s, and when her other hand comes to rest against her face, Emma’s breath catches.

It’s nothing compared to when Regina’s lips press softly to hers. 

She swears she stops breathing entirely as she reacts to the kiss, reaching for Regina with years of pent up need and longing, and it’s out of hand before it’s really had the chance to go for very long. Emma pulls back before she wants to, her eyes wide as she catches her breath.

“What was that?”

“What I would have told you,” Regina says, “More or less.”

Emma laughs once, “I wouldn’t have been able to argue with that.”

“And now?”

“Now?” Emma repeats. “It’s not the same now as it could have been, then, you know?” It hurts her to say it, but it’s the truth. Regina nods, curling her lips in as she looks away. “But I--” Emma stops. She’s already started. “ I told you I haven’t moved on. I didn’t just mean from what happened. I meant you too.” She takes a deep breath before admitting, “I forgive you. I want us to move past this.”

Regina nods, and Emma moves forward, pressing a soft kiss to Regina’s cheek. “We’ll go slow okay?”

She turns back around to curl back under the covers, and Regina laughs, “So you‘re not going to kick me out?”

“Why, would you rather stay in Neal’s room?” 

Emma laughs when Regina pretends like she’s going to push her off the bed.

* * *

 

_ It doesn’t take Emma long to fall asleep, but when she does, it feels restless.  _

_ She tosses and she turns, and even though she hardly ever dreams anymore, she does tonight, so vividly, it could be real. She sees the place she and Regina first ran into Cora and Hades, except they don’t seem surprised to see her.  _

_ There’s a little boy turned away from her, maybe eight years old, and Emma’s brow furrows. His hair is too dark for the boy to be Will, but there’s something familiar about him she can’t place. _

_ As soon as she thinks she’s close to figuring it out, Hades steps between her and the boy. He smiles. “Couldn’t have done it without you,” he tells her.  _

_ She looks back at the boy, and he turns. The last thing she sees before waking up are his wide green eyes. _

“Emma!” She wakes with a start, breathing heavily as she sits up in bed. Regina is looking at her, eyes wide with worry. She breathes a little in relief when Emma looks back at her. “Are you okay?”

She shakes her head, not sure what to say. She starts to say,  _ It was just a bad dream _ , but the words won’t leave her mouth. If she can’t say it, it must not be true, which could only mean one thing.

“Something's wrong.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol wasn't that ridiculous? i love these dumb gays <3 i'd love to hear your thoughts!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for any errors! (also stay tuned for a related story about emma and regina being nap buddies set in this universe but not necessarily correlated to this specific plot)

 

The next morning when Regina wakes up, Emma is gone. Again.

She sighs as she rests back against the pillows, wondering what she would have done had she woken up before Emma left, if she knew she would leave. She imagines wanting to wrap her arms around her and pull the blonde closer, even though she knows that a tight hold isn’t enough to stop Emma from leaving if she really wants to.

But maybe she could convince her to stay.

She’s not sure where they stand anymore. She remembers the feel of Emma’s lips against hers and she wants that feeling back, but if waiting longer means having Emma by her side more, she’s willing to keep her hands to herself for as long as Emma needs. The last thing she wants to do is invade Emma’s space again, physically or mentally.

Regina lies in bed for a while longer, shifting over in the bed so that her face is buried in Emma’s pillow rather than her own, and she debates just going back to sleep. But she can hear that everyone else is waking up, moving through the school, and she reluctantly throws off the covers and gets ready for the day.

Downstairs is more empty than she expected, and it’s only Lily in the kitchen when Regina walks in. She’s standing at the island, coffee cup  in hand, eyes trained on the window. She doesn’t look at Regina when the other woman enters, but as soon as she’s poured her own cup of coffee and mirrored Lily’s position on the opposite side of the island, she speaks up.

“I thought it would be weird. Being back here.” Lily takes her eyes from the window then, back down at her hands around her cooling coffee and then up to Regina. “It still feels like home. Like we never left.” She laughs once before adding, “I kind of wish we never did.”

“Why is that?”

“Come on, Regina. I know you think the same. Everything could be so different. Xavier took me in, saved me from a life that had every potential to be damaging. And then I walked out on him. I never thought of him as a parent figure but maybe I should have.”

Regina frowns, but nods nonetheless. It’s not something she can relate to in the same capacity as Lily, who was literally hatched in Xavier’s care, but she understands the sentiment. When her mother was a threat to her in childhood, and her father brought her here, Xavier didn’t even question taking Regina in as his student, as well as letting her stay in the mansion during holidays when she couldn’t leave otherwise.

Then she had to mess up, and believe it was the kind of mistake that warranted running away, right into the hands of people who would end up trusting her mother, the reason she’d gone to Xavier’s school to begin with.

She looks up at her friend, eyes back on her coffee, which is likely cold by now, a solemn look on her face. Her injuries from yesterday certainly look better, but they still stand out, and Regina frowns deeper. “What brought this on?”

Lily laughs bitterly. “Okay, well you know I was hatched like some kind of reptile already. If that never made sense to you, it’s about to. You know that dragon I fought yesterday?” Regina nods. “Yeah, so that was my mom.”

It comes as a surprise, but more than anything, it makes sense. The dragon part, anyway.

“Wait, does this mean our mothers are working together? How did she know it was you if--”

“Because of our alignment,” Lily answers with a snort. “I don’t know what would have happened if we hadn’t have left when we did. I’m sure she would have found out who I was eventually, or vice versa. But I guess it would have been much more civil.”

Regina shrugs, “I don’t know. I mean, she does have a point… being angry. Her child was taken from her, and I know that being raised with her may not have been the best environment, but--”

“Regina, the woman tackled me out a window. She has no right to be upset that I was taken from her.” Lily scowls as she finally takes a sip of her coffee. It only makes her scowl more so she dumps it in the sink. “Why are you defending her anyway? You know more about what it’s like to have a mother that doesn’t love you than I do.”

It’s a true statement, but it stings anyway, and Regina shakes her head. “This has nothing to do with my mother you know. It has to do with--” She comes to an abrupt stop when she realizes she has no idea  _ what _ this is about. She isn’t usually one to have this kind of sympathy, and she pulls back a little to see if sympathy for Lily’s other is really what this is, but she comes up empty when she realizes that’s exactly what it is.

She doesn’t mention that to Lily though.

Instead she says, “You’re right. I’m not sure what I meant, but I think it was horrible that your first interaction with her was what it was. You deserve better. Both then and now.”

“Thanks,” Lily mumbles. “I mean, maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on her. Maybe she really would have loved me.”

“We’ll never know,” Regina shrugs. “Unless we meet a time traveler.”

Lily laughs, “A time traveler wouldn’t know any actual answers. They would just… I don’t know. Put us into a new time and we would forget this one. Besides, that’s an ability I don’t think anyone should have. Too much power.”

“Well, even so, it might not be too late to reconcile. Maybe not right now, but after we figure out what’s going on, and everything calms down…” 

“Yeah, maybe. We’ll see.” Lily pours herself another mug of coffee, making a point to drink this one immediately. She winces at the heat but laughs. “I can’t believe my mom can breathe fire. Do you think that’s why I have wings?”

“Maybe. I mean my mom and I both have psychic abilities.”

“Doesn’t Elsa’s mom have ice magic? Maybe we’re on to something here.”

“But Ruby and Granny? No correlation there. Same for Kathryn and Midas. Self replication and gold manipulation? It’s not as consistent as we thought.”

“Probably for the best if any of us are planning on having kids. A kid with David and Mary Margaret’s combined powers. Or any of ours being passed down or enhanced. Could you imagine?”

Regina laughs at the idea, but something tugs in her chest.

_ Something’s wrong _ .

She tries not to think about it.

**xxx**

Everything in the school feels strangely quiet, like when the shield is up, only Regina knows it isn’t because she still catches glimpses of emotion here and there. She figures that she’s just too caught up in her own to pay mind to any others.

Or anything at all for that matter.

She’s walking through the school, looking for Emma, and she gasps when her body collides with someone else’s. She wants to disappear when she looks up to see Neal, looking kind of like he wants to disappear as well. “Sorry,” they mumble at the same time before doing that awkward shuffle back and forth.

Once they’ve finally figured it out with a laugh, about to simply head on their way, Regina stops him with, “Hey, wait. We haven’t had a chance to talk or anything since…” she trails off, wishing she hadn’t even started this. “Never mind. Just…” She remembers August and Neal sitting close the other day, Neal’s refusal to join the Brotherhood back when she’d asked, choosing for love, and of course his plan to make him jealous in school. She’s glad it worked for someone. “I wanted to say congratulations. I had no idea.”

Clearly, Neal has no idea either. “What?”

“What?” Regina echoes. She blinks at him, only becoming more mortified when she realizes he’s not actually with August. “Oh, um…” She considers trying to explain, but decides she would rather not make this any worse. “I’ve got to go find Emma,” she says instead. “Good luck with… things.”

“Thanks, I guess?” he responds still lost. “I think Emma’s outside by the way. By that big tree,” he offers up as she turns to leave, thankfully in the right direction. She’d be lying if she didn’t consider trying to wipe his memory of the whole encounter, but what would be the point if she still remembered it?

Fortunately, Neal was right about Emma’s location, and Regina finds her in a matter if minutes, sitting on the ground with her back up against this giant oak not too far from the school. Her eyes are closed, and when she doesn’t move when Regina sits next to her, the brunette realizes she’s asleep. 

For a moment, she debates napping with her, but she decides against it, unsure of what Emma would think about that, so she pokes her gently in the side. The blonde shifts a little before her eyes slowly open, squinting at the sudden brightness. “Regina?”

“Hey,” she smiles. “What are you up to?”

Emma shrugs. “I didn’t sleep so great last night. I didn’t think they had the shield up. It wasn’t when we were talking, but… I don’t know. I always sleep well unless the shield is up.”

Regina frowns as she turns to face the blonde. “Emma, the shield hasn’t been up at all. Merlin isn’t here. You could have just stayed in bed,” she says with a chuckle, brushing a loose strand of hair behind Emma’s hair. There was no reason to come sleep under a tree.”

At Emma’s blank look, Regina frowns again, deeper this time. “What?”

“Emma, you had a bad dream, remember? I think that’s why your sleep wasn’t great.”

“That doesn’t make a lot of sense. I always sleep good.” Emma furrows her brow before groaning into her hands. “I wish I’d just stayed in bed then, like you said. Maybe I just needed more time. I just figured… you know, about the shield.”

“You remember the dream though, right?”

Emma shrugs a little. “Not a lot. Just that it felt like… I don’t know. I had another dream after the one that woke me up that was pretty weird. So I think it was just… Maybe it doesn’t mean anything.”

“You were sure that it did though. And you told me is wasn’t just a dream. The only reason you would have been able to say that is if--”

“If it was  _ true _ yeah. That’s another reason I thought the shield was just… up.” Regina gives her head a small shake and Emma sighs, leaning all the way back against the tree and pulling up some grass at her side. She tosses it in the opposite direction. “I don’t remember it all, but it freaks me out to think about it.” Before Regina can comment, Emma speaks again. “How’d you sleep? Sorry for leaving this morning.”

“It’s fine. You don’t need to apologize.” Emma’s eyes stay trained on the ground, one of her hands still messing with the grass, and Regina absentmindedly takes it in her own, ignoring the way Emma’s breath catches. “I slept okay.”

“Just okay?” Emma asks, her voice soft.

“Well, I was worried about you,” Regina explains as Emma’s fingers loop with hers. “Other than that, everything was great.” 

They fall into silence, and Regina considers opening up about how something feels different since last night. Not in the school, not between them necessarily, but in herself. There’s some kind of hollowness she doesn’t have the words to explain, and even though she wants to try, she’s not sure now is the best time. She glances at Emma, her knees tucked up to her chest and her eyes still not meeting Regina’s. She seems to be struggling with her own thing, and Regina doesn’t want to add to that.

“We can go nap upstairs if you want? You could just teleport us back to bed since the shield isn’t up,” Regina casually jokes. “That way we can avoid questions.”

Emma laughs with her, bringing her hand up to rest on her knees, pulling Regina’s with it. She finally meets her gaze as she kisses her knuckles gently before dropping her hand. “Maybe we could walk instead,” she suggests as she stands to help Regina up.

This time she doesn’t let go of her hand.

**xxx**

The next week is calmer than any of them would have expected, but it’s been great for recovery. They don’t hear from Hades or anyone from what was formerly the Brotherhood and is now… something else entirely, and they don’t seek any of them out. 

Robin mentions that they should try to take the ones from under Rumple’s trickster control and bring them back to their side, but others seem in favor of waiting, at least until they know what they’re dealing with. 

Because Hades is such a mystery, Erik and Xavier go in search of someone who may have known him, and they anticipated on being gone all weekend, reminding everyone that in the meantime, they ought to lay low. They’ve gotten Will back, and as long as they have control over those they’re manipulating, it means they need them. If they need them, they’re safe, for the most part. 

Everything is best taken one step at a time.

Regina leans against the back of the couch with Emma next to her. They’d had a productive walk last week, moving along hand in hand, their discussions drifting from nostalgia to the things they’d missed about each other’s lives in the past eleven years, and most of their conversations since had been just like they used to be, only a little more open this time. They kept each other in the loop, with the exception of one thing that Regina kept dismissing as unimportant.

She thinks about it again now as she feels Emma’s shoulder bump lightly into hers, and she smiles when she meets green eyes with her own, reassuring her that everything is fine with just a look. Emma doesn’t buy it of course, but she doesn’t ask, not wanting to push Regina.

They’ve been really cautious around each other, mapping out where all the lines are that they shouldn’t cross, and since it’s still really early, there are quite a few of those. Neither of them seem to mind, just content to be getting back on the same page. 

So far, no one has really noticed what’s been happening between the two, except for Mary Margaret who can’t  _ help  _ but notice (though she’s promised them both a handful of times not to say a word to anyone), and Neal, who Regina is convinced Emma confided in about it all. She’s done the same with Lily, who’s smirk at them across the room is enough to inform Ruby that  _ something _ is happening.

Which makes it kind of their own fault when Ruby gets this look on her face as she stands in the middle of the room and decides that something’s gotta give.

“Hey, you know, everyone is so stressed out lately. Not to mention  _ bored _ . We should go out.” She’s met with mostly skeptical looks, and when Robin opens his mouth as if to supply a reason why they shouldn’t, Ruby cuts him off. “Look, I know what you’re all probably thinking. But let’s not go there. I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about. We know what most of these guys are capable of, so really, how bad could it be? It’s better than just waiting around. On a Saturday night I might add.” 

She shoots some pointed glances around the room, and Regina blushes when she receives hers, pretending like she doesn’t know what it means. “What is this? Cuffing season?” Mulan scoffs.

“Like you’re complaining,” Ruby says with a wink.

That’s all there is to say about that.

**xxx**

A few hours later, they’re all at this club Ruby’s heard a lot of things about (though she won’t specify good or bad), and she’s told them to pair up with a buddy or she would intervene. Mulan called her out for playing matchmaker, but she didn’t care. “Some people are just paired as friends, you know.”

“Oh, are they now?” Mulan responded, almost challenging, and everyone had been so surprised when Ruby kissed her to win the argument that they didn’t comment further, and when that turned into making out at the bar, everyone just went their own ways.

“You okay?” Emma asks for the first time so far today as she puts a mixed drink in Regina’s hand. The brunette stares at the bright orange concoction but sips from it nonetheless. “It’s good, trust me. And don’t ask what it’s called.”

She clinks her glass against Emma’s before taking a sip. “I’m fine,” she finally answers. “Just trying to relax.” She’d said the same to Lily earlier, and the other girl had shrugged, telling her that a night out would probably help. In any other circumstance Regina might agree, but something about this particular situation weighed differently.

The odd, empty feeling she’d felt when she woke up that opening last week hadn’t dissipated. If anything, it only worsened. The emptiness feels a little deeper, more consistent, and nothing she does seemed to ease it.

But she still hasn’t opened up about it.

Emma doesn’t respond like Lily had though. Instead she half asses a smile and says nothing, and it makes Regina feel like she could try explaining the feeling to Emma, and she would understand. But still, something holds her back.

They find a seat somewhere off to the side of the chaos, watching everyone have a good time. A fair amount of them are on the dance floor, and Regina smirks when she sees Neal and August in each other’s space, smiling at each other. Ruby and Mulan are defining  _ tearing up the dance floor _ , a cheering crowd circling them, while most others try and blend in from the sidelines.

“Would you like another?”

“Hm?” Regina asks, looking back to Emma before following the blonde’s gaze to her empty glass. She hadn’t even realized. “Oh. No, thank you.”

Emma sets her own empty glass beside Regina’s before leaning back, her hand coming to rest against the other woman’s thigh. The only noise around them for a while is the pounding music of the club, but eventually, Emma catches Regina’s eye and she says, “You know, if something’s wrong, we can talk, or I can just listen. I can tell something’s off, and I think you probably know you’re not the only one feeling it.”

That last part catches Regina’s attention.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… I don’t know, Regina. Something just feels off. With you, with me. Kind of with us, but at first I just thought…” The brunette strains to hear her and she trails off. “It’s kind of loud in here, huh?”

“Yeah,” Regina says back. “Do you want to walk outside?”

“I’ll do you one better,” Emma grins, taking her hand before they’re suddenly on the rooftop deck. Regina sways on her feet taking glances around the empty space before glaring at Emma. 

“You’re lucky no one was up here. You know some people are wary about mutants, better than most people I might add.” Emma shrugs apologetically. “Besides, I know you’ve only had the one drink, but isn’t that dangerous?”

“Look, if I made it out alive from that place you were robbing, I’m sure I can make it out alive here. Besides, I wouldn’t let anything happen to you,” Emma reassures, leading Regina to a few seats overlooking the city. 

It’s a lot quieter up here than in the club, though they can still hear the base creeping up from below, as well as the sounds from the streets. It’s cooler too, and Regina shivers when the wind blows. She might complain about the cold if it didn’t mean Emma moving closer, their thighs pressed together as strong arms hold her for warmth. The blonde’s nose brushes against Regina’s ear as she presses a kiss against her neck, so soft she’s not even sure it happened. “Talk to me, Regina.”

It’s the way Emma leans against her. The way Regina can breathe a little smoother with Emma by her side. The way green eyes look into hers like she really wants to be there, really wants to help and understand, almost like she does already. It’s the way Regina shifts next to her, and Emma mirrors her, somehow knowing exactly where she needs to be. It’s the way Emma just  _ knows _ that makes Regina speak up, feeling that their connection somehow supplies answers to the feeling she can’t explain.

So she tries.

“I’ve felt kind of… empty,” she starts. “That’s the word I’ve been using anyway, though it is a little vague. It’s not like anything I’ve ever felt before. It’s not empty in a sad way necessarily, and it doesn’t seem mental. I swear sometimes it’s so intense, I can feel it in my chest. It’s like something is missing almost. Like... “ Regina trails off, suddenly feeling ridiculous in her explanation.

“Like there’s a hole in your heart?” Emma asks.

Regina looks back up at her then, her eyes widening because that’s  _ exactly  _ what it feels like. The look on her face must have been enough without her needing to ask the question.

“I feel it too. Ever since I had that dream.”

“Me too,” Regina says, her eyes drifting to the ground. She feels Emma’s fingers brush up her side. The blonde breathes out while Regina breathes in, and they remain in sync, side by side until Regina asks, “What do you think it means?”

But Emma doesn’t have an answer.

When they get back that night, Erik and Charles are waiting for them with multiple counts of bad news. Everyone sobers enough at the sudden mood in the room. They haven’t found anything out about Hades, except that he killed their source, likely only hours before their arrival, the first of two messages, the second being a threat.

“He says he has something we want.”

Regina feels an inexplicable pang in her chest. Emma grips her hand.

“We don’t know what it is, but we do know that it’s something we’re going to need to get from him. It has something to do with what he’s plotting. A power source of sorts.”

“Tonight, we’ll regroup. Clearly some of you need to pull yourselves together,” Erik mutters. “Tomorrow we’re going after whatever this… item is.”

**xxx**

Regina doesn’t sleep well that night even with Emma by her side, and Emma is the same, spending more time lying awake, running her fingers through Regina’s hair than sleeping. The brunette doesn’t need to ask if Emma’s worried, because she can feel it. This time she’s sure it isn’t  _ just _ a matter of emotion detection and the feelings radiating from Emma. It’s something deeper.

“You don’t think this about my dream, do you?” Emma asks.

Regina’s brow furrows. “I can’t imagine how it would be.” Emma can only shrug at that. “Come on, let’s try and get some sleep. You need your rest.” In response, the blonde turns against Regina, as if she’s the one with the healing magic, gripping onto her uncharacteristically.  _ Something’s wrong _ . “It’s going to be alright,” Regina tells her, and even though she knows Emma can see right through it, the blonde’s breathing eventually evens out.

The next morning feels both solemn and electric as they prepare to face Hades, not sure of what to expect. They all have special X-Men outfits this time, which creates a little excitement despite the nerves, and Regina smirks when she notices Emma checking her out in the skin tight material.

The plan is to go in civilly, not intending to fight. They know Hades has some kind of psychic shield, so they won’t be able to get to him to figure out what his plan is or the item they need to retrieve, but as long as they can get someone on their side who would choose to be if they weren’t being controlled, they’d have a source, and also be bringing someone back to safety.

Everyone is divided, and heads out in groups. Regina is with Emma, Robin, and David, and their main priority is to bring someone back to their side or to find access to information, if they find a way around the shield, or to acquire the item. Xavier and Charles are taking a few into the main conversation, Belle and Marian, a few who don’t necessarily pose a threat, while others are falling behind as backup if there needs to be a fight.

Robin is leading the four of them around the enemy’s base house, sneaking along undetected. Regina follows directly behind, and when they stop, Regina links hands with him, hoping that his supernatural thievery will keep her powers under the radar, long enough for anything. 

Emma suggested earlier that they go for someone clearly manipulated, overtaking Rumple’s hold and bringing them back, and that’s what Regina does, going for Aurora, thinking that the weakness embodiment will be a good drawing point. Thanks to Robin, she doesn’t get picked up on or blocked out by Hades, but it’s still the moment things start going wrong.

Regina misses most everything, trying to catch a hold on Aurora. She’s fighting against Rumple in someone else’s mind, but no one knows what’s going on with her piggybacking off or Robin’s powers, but then someone inside takes a physical hit, words are exchanged, and Xavier cuts Regina off with a sharp:  _ Change of plans. Get Robin inside with Emma. This was an ambush. _

She breaks off her connection with Robin before her connection to Aurora, which means her location is no longer safe, but Emma and Robin have disappeared before Regina and David get dragged inside, thrown to the ground at Cora’s feet. She tries taking David over to their side, and he plays the part really well before Regina knocks her own mother in the jaw.

“Next time try someone without absolute charisma. Not that you know the meaning of the word.” She and David make their way back out of the way, Cora growling as she pulls back up to her feet.

“It doesn’t matter who I go after. We’re still going to win. You’re not going to get him from us.” She starts to walk away, no doubt looking for another target when Regina grabs her arm and pulls her back, eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

“Him? Who’s  _ him _ ?”

A laugh erupts from Cora’s lips, vain and slimy, and she shakes her head at her daughter. “You still don’t know.” She pulls her arm back and moves on, and it’s only a minute later she hears Emma shouting at her across the room.

She’s shocked when she turns to see Emma collapsing to the ground, and she can feel the hurt in her chest as Emma clutches her own. She has no idea what’s wrong or what’s happened, but she runs over to the blonde. She’s sobbing, early inconsolable, and Regina manages to pull her out of the way before any harm can come to her. 

The fighting isn’t as bad as it was before, and Xavier has already called for everyone to fall back so there won’t be as many injuries. The only one who looks like they’ve been hurt so far is Emma, who isn’t suffering from anything visible.

“Emma, let’s go!” Mulan shouts at her from across the room, but she doesn’t react, just staring ahead, eyes wide, and something about what she sees in those green eyes terrifies Regina. She calls back to Mulan, reassuring her that they would make it back before following Emma’s gaze.

“What is it? Emma, what’s wrong?”

She lets out a sob against Regina’s shoulder, but the brunette pulls her back. 

“Emma. We need to get moving. Can you tell me when we get back?” Emma doesn’t even respond. “Emma, they set us up. We need to get out of here.” The blonde teleports them, but they don’t make it very far before they hit the ground. They’re still in the vicinity of Hades, but they’re out of harm’s way, more or less, and Regina tries getting Emma to take a few breaths, but the tears don’t stop.

She’s shaking her head until the moment they finally die down. “I know what it is,” Emma whispers. “I know what they took from us. Or, who they took.”

Regina frowns, shaking her head in confusion, thinking back to everyone they had and everyone that had been taken due to Rumple’s manipulation. She can’t think of anyone they don’t already know about. “Who did they take?” Regina eventually asks her, lost and unprepared for Emma’s answer.

“He has our son.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i promise there will eventually be answers but i really am enjoying this build, so i hope you are too <3 i'd love to hear your thoughts!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for any mistakes and for updating a day late!

(Emma)

“He has our son.”

Regina’s face shows a kaleidoscope of emotions after Emma’s said the words before settling into a confused concern. She rests her hand against the blonde’s forehead as if checking for a fever, and Emma pulls her hands away with a shake of her head. 

“He has our son,” she repeats with more emphasis.

Regina frowns at her as she turns to face her. “How?” 

“I don’t know.” Emma keeps her eyes on Regina’s, waiting for that look to fade. But Regina only grows more stubborn, shaking her head again.

“Emma, it can’t be  _ our son _ . That’s impossible. We can’t conceive a child, and even if we could, we haven’t--”

“I don’t  _ know _ , Regina,” Emma says, shaking her head. “I just know that it was our son. When I saw his eyes, I just  _ knew. _ I should have realized it before.”

“Before?” Regina prompts.

“When I had my dream.”

The clarification is met with a nonplussed laugh from Regina. “Emma, the boy from your dream was a  _ child _ . You said he was, what? Eight, nine years old?” 

“Something like that,” Emma shrugs. 

“Then he can’t be ours. Putting aside the fact that we can’t actually  _ make _ a baby, we weren’t even in contact eight years ago.” 

“It’s our son Regina.” Emma says again. Regina looks exasperated, her forehead wrinkled and her lips turned down. Emma sighs, but her firm gaze doesn’t waver. “You know I can’t lie, and even if I could, I wouldn’t lie to you.” 

The other woman nods once, though her expression shows no change. “But it’s impossible. I just don’t understand--” 

“Regina,  _ trust me _ ,” Emma says, cutting her off. There’s a tense moment of silence where the blonde can see Regina wrestling with Emma’s words in her head, coming out as truths but sounding so fictional. Emma gets it. She wouldn’t believe it if she hadn’t have seen… “I trust  _ you _ ,” Emma starts, the idea dawning on her. “I need you to trust me too. No matter what it takes.”

Emma gives her a purposeful look, taking the other woman’s hand again even though Regina doesn’t need skin to skin contact for her powers to work, which might be why she frowns down at their joined hands before slowly looking back up, her eyes widening with dawning recognition.

“It’s okay, Regina. I want you to see him too. Just do it.”

So she does.

Emma focuses on the event of the hour, starting from the minute she had Robin’s hand in hers and disappeared inside. Cora had been there as if she knew where Emma was going to appear, and her eyes were on Robin’s, locking him in place before Emma could get him out. 

Cora’s manipulation only took a moment.

He yanked his hand from Emma’s, his eyes still latched onto Cora’s. The blonde was about to fight her to get Robin’s autonomy back, but she leaned over to whisper into his ear, and he was in Hades’ hold before Emma could intervene.

She tried to avoid Cora’s gaze but failed when the woman grabbed her jaw, forcing her to look into her eyes. “Look away,” she sneered, “Until it’s done. Then I want you to see it.”

With that, she shoved Emma away, not hard enough to knock her over, and Emma stood frozen, waiting for something she knew nothing about to turn and look for Robin, to figure out what Hades was up to. But all she could do was wait, listening to the fight in the space around her.

When she could move again, there wasn’t one single event that allowed it. Not that she could discern from listening, anyway. It was like something had dropped a little, some kind of shackle on her mind holding her to Cora’s command, but a part of it still lingered as she looked for what she had been forbidden to see the process of. When she turned, she didn’t know what exactly she was looking for, but her eyes led her there anyway.

The shackles dropped completely when her eyes landed on another pair of green eyes, so much like hers, familiar in a way that extended past her dream, and she immediately dropped. The boy’s eyes widened when she did, but they didn’t hold the recognition they had in her dream.

The difference was something Emma could feel in her chest.

He frowned as he looked up to Hades, who took the boy’s hand. He was close enough for Emma to hear what he said to the boy before he led them from the room. “ _ She couldn’t have been the mother you need.” _

The last thing Emma saw before she felt Regina’s hands reaching down for her was the boy’s eyes, confused, cautious, and afraid.

When Regina pulls away mentally, she falls closer physically, and Emma is there to catch her. Silent tears run down her own face at the memory, but Regina doesn’t cry with her, instead shaking her head as if in denial, but it’s clear in her eyes that she believes it.

Emma eyes the building where Hades and Cora are holding their son, still within eyesight. It’s all she can do not to try and teleport in there, but she knows that it’s not smart. Not now. The only comfort she has is that if they  _ need _ their son, they won’t hurt him. 

It’s not enough, but she knows it’ll have to be for now. 

“Regina?” She lightly brushes her hand up the other woman’s arm, but she doesn’t react, her jaw slack as she stares forward, her eyes fixed on a place just to the left of Emma’s arm. Emma lets the moment last just a little longer before she tries for Regina’s attention once again, this time tucking a finger under a chin. “Regina?” She smiles when dark eyes finally meet hers. “You ready?”

The brunette tries to return her smile. It looks just as uneasy as Emma feels, but there’s something to be said about remaining on the same page. She nods, squeezing Emma’s hand. “Let’s go home.”

* * *

 

Within minutes Emma and Regina are standing in the empty atrium of the school hand in hand. They both relax in the quiet space, but Emma can’t shake the dread settling in her chest. “We should tell them what’s going on,” Regina says, taking a step towards the voices in a nearby room, but Emma doesn’t follow. She keeps a hold on Regina’s hand, and when their connection threatens to break, the other woman turns back to Emma confused.

“I don’t think we should.” Regina opens her mouth to argue, but Emma shakes her head to silence her before she can start. “I mean, we should. But I think we should wait. Not everyone will be able to see it the way you did, and I mean… you know as well as I do that this seems really far fetched. We just need to tread lightly for now.”

The thought works in Regina’s head, her brows furrowed, and the lines in her forehead eventually smooth out as she nods. “You’re right. But, Emma, if our son is part of Hades’s plan, we need to say something… Maybe we don’t need to tell them he’s our son, but we do need to tell them… I don’t know,” she finishes with a deflation of her shoulders. 

Emma knows what she’s trying to say, so she nods before they drop hands and go towards the professor’s office. Xavier is at his desk, talking with Erik and Logan, but they fall to silence as soon as Emma pushes the door the rest of the way open.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt. We have some information,” she starts.

Xavier gestures for them to come in. “We were just talking about everything that happened. Did you just get back?”

Emma nods before continuing, “We know who Hades needed. It was a boy, and he has him now. I saw him, though I don’t know how he got there because Cora made me look away, but maybe someone else saw.”

“Who’s the boy?” 

“He, uh…” Emma starts to talk, but she tears her eyes from Erik’s intimidating stare, suddenly too aware that she can’t answer his question without telling them all everything.

“He might be a mutant,” Regina offers. “Maybe they just got to him before we did, sort of like how you found Killian,” she says with a nod to Erik. The answer seems satisfactory to them, much to Emma’s relief, but she can’t ignore the way Logan squints as he looks at her, frowning into his hand. She gives him a tight smile. “I’m sure we’ll find out more information in time,” Regina concludes.

Xavier nods. “Thanks for letting us know. I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but both Robin and Belle have been taken, and we’ll be working on getting them back. Of course, without Robin, we can’t use the same strategy as before, but we still have hope. Right now, our focus is on reconvening. The shield will remain down. Robin may be able to escape on his own, and in the event that he does, or if Belle does, we don’t want anything to hold them back.”

“Just let us know if you need anything,” Emma says, wrapping up the conversation, getting nervous under Logan’s scrutiny. She tugs on Regina’s sleeve before slipping from the room, exhaling in relief when she hears the door close behind them. She heads back down the hallway but is surprised when Regina stops her.

“Emma, I’m worried about you.”

“I’m worried about you too,” she says back. 

“I know.” The blonde rolls her eyes. “Sorry, it’s not hard to pick up on.” This time, Emma pouts. With a snort, Regina places a hand over her cheek and leans in, their lips touching for only a moment before someone nearby clears their throat, and Emma panics.

It’s just Logan smirking at them like he isn’t the least bit surprised. “Emma. Regina,” he greets with a laugh. Regina chuckles with him, and the blonde just shakes her head. “Hey, Emma, I was wondering if I could speak with you for a moment?”

She swallows hard and gives Regina a look, but the other woman wither doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. Either way, Emma is left standing alone with Logan, who pulls her into an empty room. She already knows what he’s going to say before he says it, but she tries to maintain an air of nonchalance as she attempts to steer the conversation in another direction before it even starts. “That wasn’t…” but she can’t say it. 

Logan can. “Wasn’t what it looked like, huh?”

Emma shakes her head, but groans when she realizes she’s nodding instead. He chuckles. “Look, we’re taking things slow. It feels like it used to though, like we’re picking up where we left of, except…”  _ Except we apparently have a son that got abducted by our current arch nemesis despite being unable to actually exist. _ She sighs.

“Who’s the boy, Emma? I know there’s something about him you aren’t telling people, and while I know you have your reasons, you know you can talk to me, right?”

She nods, intentionally this time, hesitating before saying anything. A part of her wonders if he already knows, or at least has an idea. She looks away just before admitting the truth, worried about how he’ll take it. “He’s our son. Mine and Regina’s.”

The silence that follows doesn’t surprise her but being pulled into his strong arms does, though she leans against him. It’s emotional enough for her to know she isn’t ready to open up about this to everyone else, regardless of if they believe it or not, try to comfort her or not.

They just stand like that for a while before he pulls himself away, his hands on her shoulders until she looks up at him. She’s just grateful she hasn’t started crying again. He shakes his head as his hands drop. Crossing them tightly across his chest in the next moment, he looks angry, but his voice comes out soft. “But why does hades need him? And how did he get a hold of someone who doesn’t technically exist?”

Emma shrugs, “I’m worried it has to do with his powers.”

“Then we need to tell them everything.”

The certainty in his voice makes Emma’s eyes widen, and she grabs his arm before he can leave, even though he hadn’t been moving.”Wait…” she shuffles on her feet. “Can we just have a few days to process this. I mean... I just want…” Emma huffs, frustrated she doesn’t know how to explain. “I don’t know. Regina--”

“Emma,” Logan stops her with a nod. “I understand. When you’re ready, we’ll tell them, but I don’t think we should wait too long, okay? In the meantime, I’m not going to tell anyone.”

“Thanks.”

He nods, his hand gripping her arm once. “It’s gonna be okay, kid.”

It’s the kind of statement that doesn’t seem true or false, but she hopes he’s right.

* * *

 

She teleports straight into her room, figuring that at this point, Regina won’t care so long as she doesn’t scare her. 

It’s a relief when she doesn’t jump at Emma’s sudden arrival in the room, nor does she react when the blonde decides to crawl onto the bed and become the big spoon, but when she hears the kind if soft sniffle that was meant to go unheard, the relief proves to be short lived.

Emma understands, as the entire situation is constantly threatening to shatter her from the inside out, but she puts her own worries aside to focus on Regina. She sits up and eases the other woman over, repositioning in such a way that she can see her better, though Regina doesn’t look at her. 

“Regina?” Emma asks softly, running a hand through her hair once to brush it back. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

She jumps a little when Emma’s hand comes to rest against her face, her eyes opening like she wasn’t aware the blonde was in the room. “Emma?” She frowns as the brunette sits up, wanting to ask, but not knowing the question to use. Regina’s lips part ever so slightly. “I remember.”

Emma blinks, her frown deepening in her confusion. “You remember? You remember what?”

“Not everything,” she starts, shaking her head. “I just… I came up here, and I was lying down, trying to relax, but it was useless. Then out of nowhere, the memory just came to me.”

“What memory?”

The smile that appears on Regina’s face is genuine and so bright that she laughs right along with it. Her eyes are alight as they meet Emma’s, and the blonde feels a spark of hope somewhere within her. “We were coming home from the hospital. I was driving us back, and you were in the backseat with our son on a car carrier.”

“Home?” 

“Home,” Regina affirms with a smile. “There was a house.  _ Our _ house. Really close to the school.” The other woman goes on to tell her about carrying the baby inside and taking him to his nursery, smiling down at him as he slept soundly in his crib for the first time. The memory isn’t exactly long, but Regina has so many details, and each one leaves Emma’s chest warm, but she can’t help but frown, trying to wrap her head around the way this event doesn’t register as a lie, even though it’s something she has no memory of it herself.

“One of that happened, though,” she finds herself saying, and as soon as she doesn’t she worries Regina’s going to take offense, but instead she just smiles patiently. 

“I know. But it did.”

“It did,” Emma says, as if she needs to say it herself for the affirmation. 

The words leave her mouth, and she finds herself accepting the contradiction, both realities somehow existing in one as truth. The two sit in silence for a moment, and Emma’s eyes are trained on the places their bodies are touching: a hand on a leg, a knee against a thigh, two hands intertwined. 

“His name is Henry,” Regina suddenly says, her voice thick. Emma’s eyes go straight to the other woman’s, filling with tears that spill not long after they meet.

“Really?”

Regina smiles, the tears still silently rolling. “You were the one that suggested it.”

“I was?” Emma asks, her own tears starting to form. She starts crying when Regina nods, smiling even more before she closes the distance between them. This kiss is unlike the others they’ve shared, salty from the taste of their tears, slow as if it’s their last, energizing as if it’s their first. It’s strengthening in all the ways Emma knows how to heal, affirming through the ways she’s bound to truth, and taking them so far in such a small amount of time, as a figurative, emotional teleport.

When they pull away, Emma almost tells Regina she loves her.

She suddenly feels like she’s said it a million times even though she never has, not outloud and not recently. The thoughts, almost a montage of memories leaves her floored, and all she can do is stare at Regina, open mouthed and in awe, trying to hold the words back. 

When Regina leans forward, kissing her one last time before, “we should tell everyone tomorrow,” Emma’s sure she remembers it too.

* * *

 

Emma wakes with a start in the middle of the night to successive knocks on the door, controlled enough in volume that she knows she can take her time getting up. She pulls from Regina’s arms, shivering once she’s out from under the blankets and standing in the cool air, shocking her awake just a little more.

She feels normal again when she pulls the door open, and if she hadn’t been completely awake, she is now that her eyes are on Mary Margaret’s wide ones. She looks like she hasn’t gotten any sleep, trembling just slightly, though it may be the draft in the hallway, She ushers Mary Margaret in, but once she does, the other woman shivers once again.

“Emma,” she says in a voice that sounds stronger than she looks, but she swallows, eyeing Regina, blinking awake at the sudden change in the room. “I need to talk to you both.”

“What is it?” Emma asks, suddenly even more wary than she had been at the other woman’s arrival, putting the pieces together. “Was it another vision?”

Mary Margaret frowns. “Yes, but… Emma, I don’t understand. This was different.”

“Different how?” Regina asks, shifting in the bed and bringing her knees up to her chest. Emma motions for the visitor to take a seat at the foot, sensing this is the kind of conversation that requires it.

“Well, as you know, my visions are retrocognitive, which means they’ve already happened. This recent one… it-- when I woke up, I knew it hadn’t happened, but I actually think I remember it a little? But I couldn’t. Because, Regina, you left school. I remember you did. You guys never…” she trails off with a shake of her head. “Anyway, it contradicts. I thought maybe there was something wrong with  _ me _ and my powers, at least until I remembered.”

Emma and Regina exchange discreet glances before Regina slowly suggests, “Why don’t you tell us about it?”

* * *

 

_ (nine years ago) _

_ (xavier’s school for gifted youngsters) _

_ “I can’t believe you guys get to be roommates,” Mary Margaret said. “I though the professor would have kept the rules more strict.” _

_ Regina rolled her eyes. “Just because you wanted to wait to ‘live’ with David until you graduated, doesn’t mean you set the example.” _

_ “I know, I know,” the other woman said, putting her hands up. “Either way, I’m just glad my room isn’t next to yours.” _

_ The statement made all three women blush, and they were all relieved when Emma said instead, “I wonder how different everything will be now that we’re eighteen.”  _

_ “Didn’t they say it usually made no difference to our abilities?” _

_ Emma shrugged, “I just meant we have more freedom. We’re almost done. I almost can’t believe it,” she admitted with a laugh. “I love it here, but I’m getting tired of school.” _

_ “Aren’t you guys looking for a house?” David suddenly asked, taking a seat next to Mary Margaret. Emma blushed again. _

_ “We are,” Regina beamed proudly, taking Emma’s hand under the table. “We’ve found a few options actually, but there’s one in particular I’m hoping we get. It was Emma’s favorite, and it’s really close to the school.” _

_ Mary Margaret opened her mouth to further the conversation, but before she could, the bell sounded, signalling lunch, and Emma grinned wide as she all but jumped off the couch before teleporting straight to the kitchen with the ever mature, “Race you there!” _

_ Regina chuckled as she headed towards the destination, but when she got there, she was surprised when Emma wasn’t to be found. She looked for some kind of answer, and Robin supplied it with a shrug. “I don’t know what happened, but you might want to check on her. I think she’s sick.” _

_ “Sick?” _

_ Robin nods again. “She teleported to the bathroom or something. I told her that might make it worse, but she didn’t look like she would make it on foot.” _

_ Regina was baffled. “Thanks,” she mumbled as she left the kitchen, heading to the closest bathroom, not sure which one Emma would have gone to. But when she didn’t find her at this one, she went right upstairs to the one down the hall from their room. _

_ “Emma?” she knocked lightly on the door and waited for a response before trying to open it, but when her only response was the sound of Emma’s sick, she went ahead and let herself in. She closed the door behind her and rushed to her girlfriend’s side, carefully tying her hair up before rubbing gentle strokes on her back.  _

_ The blonde was sick once more before resting her cheek on the toilet seat in defeat. Regina winced slightly at the action but was more concerned with Emma’s well being than anything else.  _

_ “I’ve never thrown up before,” Emma admitted.  _

_ “Because of your healing?” The blonde shrugged with one shoulder. “What do you think it is?” _

_ “I don’t know, but it must be bad if my healing isn’t making it any better,” Emma mumbled. _

_ “Maybe it just hasn’t kicked in yet?” _

_ Emma scowled. _

_ It seemed better about ten minutes later, and Emma brushed it off. She would have denied it if she could, but she just didn’t bring it up as she managed to eat lunch without incident. _

_ “Just don’t teleport next time,” Regina told her. _

_ “Next time?” Emma scoffed. “Yeah, right.” _

_ Everything was fine for an hour after lunch, but Regina watched Emma carefully, just in case. She shrugged when she noticed her girlfriend looking and nodding towards the book in her hands. “Aren’t you supposed to be reading?” _

_ Robin and Marian walked in to join everyone in the library to do homework, but about ten minutes after Marian entered the room, her brow was furrowed as if concentrating, even though she hadn’t touched her homework. She hummed suddenly. “That’s weird.” _

_ “What’s weird?” Robin asked as he wrote. Regina glanced curiously up at her across the table. _

_ “I’m not sure,” Marian admitted. “There’s just something odd going on with my powers I think. I’m sensing something unfamiliar.” _

_ “Like what?” Emma asked, becoming invested. “Did someone break into the school again.” _

_ Marian shook her head. “Not like that. This is… smaller? I’m not sure how to explain it. I might just… ask Xavier. He would know more than me. Ever since my birthday my powers have been weird anyways,” she shrugged. “It’s probably nothing to be worried about. I’ll be right back,” she told Robin as she stood to leave  _

_ “Do you want someone to go with you?” Emma offered. “My powers have apparently been weird too, like… not working.” she mumbled.  _

_ Marian smiled at her with a nod, and when Emma took her hand and they disappeared, Regina sighed. She glanced at the space they’d just been occupying, then to her homework, then to Robin before she said, “Keep an eye on everything okay?” _

_ By the time she made it to Xavier’s office, Emma wasn’t there, and Marian was sitting across from the professor looking pale. “Regina? Hey, I was wondering where you went,” Emma said from behind her, walking into the room, followed by Robin, David, and Mary Margaret. _

_ “What’s going on?” Regina asked her, and Emma hung back while the other three walked further into the room.  _

_ “Someone’s pregnant,” Emma whispered. “That’s what Marian was sensing. He wanted to talk to the four of them first before bringing anyone else into it. You know, because no one else is dating. Drama and stuff.” _

_ “There will probably be drama regardless,” Regina commented. _

_ The two of them stood back as Marian confirmed that the tiny heartbeat was in the room with them, looking nervously at Mary Margaret with a frown. “Wouldn’t I know if it was me?” Marian asked. “I mean, I didn’t sense it at all until I walked into the library.” _

_ Regina and Mary Margaret both frowned at Marian. “She wasn’t in the library,” Regina said, and the other woman confirmed with a nod. _

_ “Yeah I had to get from--” was all Emma got out before she turned and vomited in the trash can.  _

_ Other than Emma getting sick, the room was quiet and still, and all eyes were on Regina as she staggered back before turning away from Emma. “Oh my god,” she muttered, one hand on her hip, the other on her head.  _

_ Mary Margaret was by her side in seconds, sensing the distinct change in mood, “Regina… we don’t know the whole story yet. Don’t do anything rash.” _

_ She turned on the younger woman then, her eyes on fire. “Rash? I think you’re talking to the wrong person,” she said with a gesture to Emma, who had recovered enough to realize that something was wrong. Marian helped her clean herself up before Regina turned on her. “Emma, do you have something you want to tell me?” Her voice is wavering, on the verge of anger, and the blonde just looked like a deer in the headlights. _

_ “I don’t know what’s going on!” she squeaked at her girlfriend, glancing nervously around the room, but Regina started speaking before anyone else could, and no one dared interrupt her. _

_ “Whose is it?” _

_ Emma’s panic was through the roof, and of course it was the only emotion Regina was zeroing in on, and maybe even picking up at all, but to her credit, she didn’t back down, and instead took a step towards Regina, shaking her head. “Babe, I would never cheat on you,” she said. “I don’t know what’s happening, but I didn’t cheat on you. There must be some mistake?” she said, looking to Marian and Xavier for help, but no one was quite sure how to back her up. _

_ Regina just looks more angry as she advanced on Emma, “You’re lying.”  _

_ “I  _ can’t _ lie!” Emma laughed. “Remember? You literally  _ have to _ believe me.” _

_ “Well, your healing isn’t saving you from morning sickness. How do I know your lie detector isn’t wonky too?” _

_ “It’s not!” Emma answered. “I’ll let you read my mind if you have to, Regina, but I swear to you, I’m not lying.” _

_ Regina scoffed, “You have to be, Emma.” She looked to Marian, “It is Emma who’s pregnant is it not?” and when the other woman confirmed it with a nod and apologetic smile, Regina turned back to Emma. “Explain yourself then. I can’t impregnate you.” _

_ So far, Emma’s mood had shifted from panicked to almost amusement, but at those words, it all dropped into just confusion. She frowned suddenly at Regina, the shift so drastic that it made the brunette double take. _

_ “What?” _

_ “What’d you just say?” _

_ “I said you can’t impregnate me,” Regina huffed. “Obviously.” _

_ Emma shook her head, her voice quiet and stunned. Mary Margaret actually gasped at her next statement. “That’s not true.” _

_ “Excuse me?” Regina demanded, her voice dropping dangerously low, but Emma seemed unaffected other than being entirely speechless. They stared at each other, unyielding for a few long moments if silence until Regina took a deep breath. “Emma, just cut it out and tell me whose baby it is.” _

_ Emma continued to be at a loss, and the mood in the room shifted again when Xavier broke the silence with the answer to Regina’s question. _

_ “It’s yours.” _

* * *

 

Mary Margaret finishes up the story, explaining that that was where her vision had ended and apologizing that she can’t provide further explanation, but Emma holds up a hand as if halting the conversation from continuing before she says, “I remember what happened.”

“What?” Regina looks over at her.

“You know how you got that memory earlier? I think I just got one while Mary Margaret was talking. Xavier figured out it was because when Marian came of age, her powers did too. It was like, unharnessed fertility magic. No one knew she would have it, so it’s not like anyone could have prepared,” Emma said.

“So you’re saying that Marian got you pregnant…” Regina deadpans.

“No! Well, I mean maybe she’s to blame, but like… Henry is your baby. I guess we just… I don’t know… did it on her birthday,” Emma mumbles. “The professor said that new developments in powers can like, latch onto any energy they have to do with, so if she developed fertility magic, anyone nearby could have gotten pregnant if they were--”

“Okay,” Mary Margaret suddenly interrupts. “I don’t need to hear about you two having sex.”

“We’ve never had sex,” Regina rolls her eyes.

“Not that you remember…”

“Oh, and you do? That’s hardly fair.”

Emma gapes, “I don’t! But obviously it happened somehow if we have a  _ son--” _

“Hold on,” Mary Margaret interrupts again. “A son?”

“Yeah,” Emma confirms. “Hades has him, somehow. But don’t tell anyone yet. We’re going to be talking to Xavier first.”

The other woman agrees, but she continues to look confused. “I don’t understand what’s going on. Because I remember it now, but… it never happened.”

“But it did,” Regina says. “You had the vision. Emma’s seen our son. I had a memory of him earlier, bringing him home from the hospital. We don’t know how, but all of that happened.”

As Regina continues to break it down for her, Emma tunes out the conversation. Her head is starting to feel heavier with the more space both realities take up, both truths registering as such in her mind. Earlier it was calmer, and her mind was able to just accept both with ease, but with more going on, Emma’s lie detection is trying to pull one above the other, even though they’re both existing in the same reality.

She’s pretty sure she’s not meant to deal with paradoxes.

It’s not often that she expresses severe pain out of nowhere with her healing, but she can’t help but hiss as she puts her head in her hands, everything at war in her mind, and Regina immediately is beside her, rubbing her back and trying to help.

“Thanks for telling us, Mary Margaret,” Regina says, offering a smile to the other woman. Emma feels her weight shift from the bed. “And for your discretion.” 

“If you want me to talk to the professor tomorrow, let me know okay?”

When the door clicks shut behind her, Regina pulls Emma closer to her towards the business end of the bed and under the covers. She leaves kisses to Emma’s temples, to her forehead, to each of her closed eyelids, to her nose, and finally to her lips before she pulls back. “Try to get some sleep. I’ll be here.”

Emma can only nod against her neck as she nuzzles closer.

Overall, Regina helps make her feel a little better, as does her own healing, so eventually everything stops hurting, but her mind is too occupied to fall asleep. She can’t shake the fear of what could be happening to Henry. She doesn’t know what he might know or what he might remember. She doesn’t know if he has a good place to sleep until they rescue him, and she doesn’t know what Hades is planning to do with him, other than have him as leverage.

It’s too much, too unknown, and Emma doesn’t think she’ll be getting any more sleep until she’s tried to rescue their son, found answers, or both. It may be stupid, but now that they apparently have a son in the picture, she knows there’s nothing she wouldn’t do to ensure his safety, and as she slides from Regina’s arms, she promises to be safe.

If she’s the only one who gets hurt for the rest of the ordeal, so be it. Just as long as Regina and Henry are okay.

She gets ready to go, thinking about how crazy it is that she’s never even really spoken to her son, and she doesn’t have many memories coming to her, but she still feels in her chest that she cares for him unconditionally. The look on his face when he met her eyes is enough drive for her. Regina’s tears, shed at the thought of bringing him home, the miraculous (albeit completely unusual) circumstances of his conception, the way Regina kissed her like they’d spent the past eleven years together rather than apart… it’s all enough.

When Emma starts to teleport, prepared to appear in front of Hades, she hopes her own efforts will be enough too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> will you ever get answers instead of more questions? keep reading and you'll find ouuuuutt (: lmao


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cerebro is xavier’s machine to help locate mutants. i would recommend looking up a picture if you are unfamiliar with x-men and need a base visual. sorry for any mistakes, and also if any of the liberties i took bother you! i kind of had to wing a few things lol.
> 
> tw: child abuse

It’s a pattern, apparently.

Regina wakes up uneasy, and she doesn’t even need to look to know that Emma is no longer in the bed with her, and when she has that affirmed, she groans. 

“Not again,” she mutters, wasting no time in sitting up to make the bed. It only takes one moment of being on her feet again to nearly topple back down to the bed, but she catches herself before the collapse, palms against the mattress. Easing herself back down, she falls back to lie on the mattress, closing her eyes as she rubs her temples. 

Had she sat up too fast? Is she still groggy from her restless sleep?

She wishes Emma were still here.

Something about this feels too familiar, not because the blonde had disappeared for the past few mornings without any warning, but because of another time.

_ They’d just moved into their house _ .

Regina’s eyes fly open as the memory comes back to her. It had been floating around in her mind upon waking, but it’s just now dawning on her in full. She remembers when they first set foot in the door, the wide grin on Emma’s face at the sight of it, the glow in her eyes as she skipped to Regina and said  _ this is the one _ . She remembers the day they moved in. They didn’t have any proper furniture yet, so they laid their mattress across the living room floor and spent the rest of the night with tangled limbs and twisted sheets. But when Regina woke up, Emma wasn’t there.

She’d pulled herself out of bed, resting her head on her hands as she allowed herself time to really wake up before standing. The room was bare just as it was last night, but even so, she couldn’t help but make the bed behind her before starting the day off in a mild panic about where Emma had disappeared to.

It was only about fifteen minutes later that Emma appeared in the living room , nearly falling onto the made bed with breakfast, coffee, and a goofy grin on her face that faltered when she picked up on Regina’s worry. “I thought you might be hungry, so…” she said, gesturing at the paper bag and drink carrier in her hands. 

Somehow Regina doesn’t think Emma will be returning with breakfast this time.

The memory stirs her awake, along with the string of new memories that resurfaced overnight. Nothing too big, just small things here and there, but combined, it’s enough to make Regina’s head hurt. 

Even after years of being able to open her mind and take in so many of the thoughts around her all at once, it seems that having two sets of memories is somehow harder on her, even with one of them still in progress.

She allows herself a few more minutes just to lie down and work through everything. None of her new memories are particularly emotional, but since Henry appears in a majority of them, she finds herself tearing up, still struggling to wrap her mind around the apparent reality that she and Emma somehow have a son, not to mention the undeniable fact that he’s in Hades’s clutches.

_ Hades. _ Of  _ course _ .

It’s all the brunette can do to hope that Emma didn’t go after the man alone but knowing Emma…

On her way through the mansion, she asks around, but no one has seen Emma. She gets quite a few dismissive answers about  _ you know her _ and  _ I’m sure she’s around here somewhere _ . While unhelpful, it’s about what she expected. 

Regina’s tempted to asks anyone if they’ve gotten new memories as well, but she decides against it when she locks eyes with Mary Margaret, who looks like she didn’t get any sleep last night after she left. She offers the woman a smile before making her way towards the kitchen.

As she enters, she’s greeted by the sound of a chair skidding, and her eyes flash to the table where August and Neal are looking up at her with shocked, wide eyes. “Oh,” Neal says, and Regina snorts.

“I don’t want to know,” she responds as she pours herself a cup of coffee. She smirks when she sees them looking at her with that same expression. “Have either of you seen Emma?”

August’s brow furrows in thought before he shakes his head. “No, not since yesterday. Is she missing?”

“Yeah, but this wouldn’t be the first time. I’m just more worried now than before, with everything that’s going on.” Both men frown at that, and it’s then that Regina remembers that not everyone knows about the latest development. So she stumbles through an explanation of the obvious, walking back towards the door as she goes. She can just drink her coffee elsewhere.

“Regina, wait,” Neal suddenly says, and she stops in her tracks, turning back to him with a grimace. 

“Yeah?”

“If you’re really that worried, you could probably try Cerebro.” Regina blinks, stunned not only by the suggestion, but by the thought of actually using it as well. “I know you’re not technically ‘authorized’ or whatever, but id the professor can do it, I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to. You are a telepath after all.”

The brunette sucks in a heavy breath. It would be a good idea, but risky. She’d only seem Xavier use the machine a couple of times, and each of those times was from her new set of memories. Still, it  _ would _ be effective, and she feels confident enough to at least try.

August and Neal accompany her down to the subbasement, Neal offering to be a lookout, while August goes into the room with Regina, just to make sure everything goes okay. 

“Have you ever been in there before?” Regina warily asks August, who gives a light shrug. 

“Not while Cerebro was in use, no,” he admits. At Regina’s panicked expression, he continues. “But, look. I don’t think it’s going to be too bad. You’re a strong telepath, so…”

Regina scoffs, “Yeah, a strong telepath who’s basically out of practice.” The three of them stop outside the large, vault-like door, and Regina wrings her hands together nervously. “I guess we’ll see.” She doesn’t give much thought to putting in the code until she has August and Neal both gaping at her.

“How’d you know that?”

“Uh…” She freezes up, unable to tell them she happens to know it from a reality that never actually happened, but actually did without making things more complicated than necessary. “I read his mind,” she ends up saying, her voice raising just slightly at the end, but the answer is deemed acceptable as both men nod at her.

She leads August in, and while she knows what the inside of the vast, spherical room looks like from the new memories, she gasps at the sight of it before her own eyes. August’s reaction is the same as the door closes behind them and they walk their way down the raised path towards the center, where Regina immediately starts flipping switches and preparing the machine before taking the helmet into her hands.

“You’re going to need to ground yourself. You really shouldn’t even be in here,” Regina says, but August is already one step ahead of her, literally rooted to the ground. 

He laughs, “There’s a reason why I’m the one in here with you instead of Neal.”

“Because you’re basically a tree?”

“Something like that,” August shrugs, and Regina shakes her head. 

“It’s interesting how the xylokinetic and the pyrokinetic became a pair,” Regina hums, looking back at Cerebro to make sure it’s ready to go. August chuckles lightly at her side. “Though at this point, I’m not very surprised by many things.”

“Especially not couples,” August offers with a knowing grin. 

Regina doesn’t respond to that, other than lifting the helmet onto her head. “Ready?” she asks, her head turned toward August long enough to catch his nod before she places the helmet on her head. Using her mind to activate the machine, she’s overwhelmed by the way the room changes, glowing bright before she sees tiny wisps of gray, indicative of people.

She keeps control as best as she can, narrowing the people down to mutants as she navigates through the shadows in search of Emma. Despite never having used the machine, she knows that something is glitching when everything starts to shift out of her control, pushing her away from one area and towards another.

There’s a panicked moment where Regina is sure that Hades is somehow messing with the signal, even at a distance, and preventing her from finding Emma, but before she can dwell too much on it, the blonde appears, walking down a street in Manhattan. As soon as Regina has the location, she breaks away from the machine and takes a staggered breath as she tries to relax, leaning against the control panel. 

“You okay?” August asks her, and she gives him a quick series of nods. It’s good timing when they hear Neal banging on the door in the pattern of their signal, and even better luck when Regina manages to sneak back through the school and out the front door.

She doesn’t waste any time in getting to Manhattan, as close to where she saw Emma in Cerebro as possible. The time that has lapsed frustrates her, as Emma could have gone anywhere since then. She might not even be in the area anymore, Regina finally admits after about an hour of aimless wandering. She’s about to give in to her powers and search the streets for Emma’s thoughts as she happens to glance into a coffee shop she’s walking past.

Regina’s sure she would recognize the back of Emma’s head anywhere. 

She makes her way over to the blonde, standing in line, and she brushes her arm gently. “Emma?” It takes a moment, but eventually the other woman turns to her, recognition sparking in her eyes as she smiles. Something about it seems off, but Regina dismisses the thought. She’s sure that  _ she _ seems off as well. Who knows what kind of morning Emma’s been having.

“Hey,” she responds. “I was just getting some coffee. Would you like some?”

“Sure,” Regina says, her voice wary. “Americano, please.”

Emma smiles. “Alright. You wanna save us a place to sit?”

“Sure.” She turns to walk through the busy shop, sighing in relief when she catches two people getting up from a secluded table in the corner near the bathrooms. It’s the kind of table that seems unusually placed, like it was never supposed to be set up there, but given the flow of the coffeehouse, it makes sense that they wanted to take advantage of the space. Despite the awkward location, it’s fairly private, and Regina has to lean around a wall to wave at Emma so the blonde knows where she went.

“Where were you this morning?” Regina asks her as soon as the blonde sits down. Emma looks taken aback, stuttering once before she shrugs and takes a sip of her coffee. 

“Just needed to get some air.”

Regina frowns, but doesn’t push the issue. She still thinks about it though. Times when Emma’s needed air and has been content with just being outside, whether at the school or in the home they’ve just begun to remember. Not to mention, if she’s needed more distance, time was never an issue as she could go off however far and come right back.

“Are you feeling better?” Regina asks her next, and Emma nods with a reassuring smile. Regina squints just slightly, recognizing that it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Are you sure? You seem a little.... I don’t know. Off,” she finally says.

“I’m fine,” is Emma’s response, a little more tense than she was a moment ago, and Regina masks her confusion behind a sip of her Americano. She’s not sure what’s going on, but clearly something is wrong. Not just with Emma clearly being not okay, but the fact that she just lied. Which, Regina realizes, shouldn’t be possible.

Her first thought is that there’s some kind of power shield around them, but when she reaches out to read the mind of one of the baristas, she has no trouble hearing their internal monologue about the frustrations of customer service, and when she’s able to mind control of a man walking towards the bathroom, sending him into the women’s rather than the men’s, her frown deepens. 

Emma’s does too.

“Well that was… odd,” the blonde says, eyes on the occupied symbol above the door handle. Regina’s expression reflects the blonde’s, only her eyes rest on Emma instead.

If there’s nothing wrong with the space around them, the problem must be with Emma.

“We need to figure out how to rescue Henry,” Regina suddenly says. She pauses, watching as confused green eyes meet hers. “And we should talk about telling the others about him. He can’t be kept a secret forever.”

She watches as Emma’s expression flashes from confusion to a kind of amused concern before back to something unreadable. The blonde tears her eyes away as she says, “I thought he was dead.”

“What?” Regina asks, setting down her coffee, her eyebrows stitched together.

“What?” Emma echoes, her voice lighter, a little lost. Regina just stares at her, waiting for some kind of follow up statement, but when all she gets is a sense of overwhelming panic from the woman across from her, Regina can only cross her arms and lean back, her expression becoming more smoothed out.

“Who are you and what did you do with Emma?”

The other woman freezes up, looking like she’s about to deny that anything is wrong, but even if she were to do that, Regina would know. Not-Emma seems to realize that there’s not a way out of this because her face transforms into a sly grin before her entire body transforms into someone that is most definitely not Emma.

It’s a woman Regina doesn’t recognize but feels like she should. Wild red hair, piercing eyes with a look that almost reminds her of her mother’ but there’s too much heart in them to be correlated to the monster she knows her mother to be.

Nevertheless, her breath catches just at the entire situation, and her heart stops as it all sinks in, that there’s a stranger in front of her, that said stranger had just been posing as Emma, and that Emma is still out there somewhere missing, likely hidden from her by Hades’s psychic shield. 

“Who are you?” she repeats, too afraid to enter the woman’s mind for the answer.

When she gets a response, she’s glad she stayed out. 

“Hello, sis. Miss me?”

The brunette isn’t sure what to say to that, and she blinks at the woman stunned. She doesn’t  _ have  _ a sister. But something about this leaves her not wanting to point that out. She looks at the stranger’s eyes, once again seeing her mother in them, and she shudders as she looks away.

“My name is Zelena,” the redhead finally admits. “Before you try to deny my existence, I’d rather you wait just a moment. I spiked your coffee.”

“With what?” Regina asks, on edge as her heart starts to race.

“Nothing bad,” Zelena says with a dismissive shrug. “Just something to make you remember.”

“I don’t understand,” Regina says, her mind going back to all the memories she’s been getting. “Are you the one who’s been giving me all these memories? Of a time I never lived?”

Zelena sneers, “I’m just reminding you of the past. I’m giving you back the memories of what our mother took from you, and I can assure you that everything you’re about to remember actually happened. you can read my mind if you have to.”

Regina doesn’t think she can handle any more memories, but the woman across the table nods at her coffee, and Regina finds herself drinking it anyways. She doesn’t need to read her mind to feel the detestation radiating from the redhead no doubt directed towards Cora, the longing and hope that Regina feels obligated to fulfill, and before she can doubt anything, she feels it all coming back.

_ She was about eight years old when Zelena developed her mutation. _

_ Regina jumped when her sister transformed into an identical version of her, but her surprise was only momentary. In only minutes, the two were grinning matching smiles, giddy as they talked about how much more fun playing pretend could be now, or how they could pretend to be twins when they went. _

_ “How do you do it?” Regina asked her sister with wide eyes, and Zelena shrugged. _

_ “It’s like breathing. You know how you just remember how to do it and you don’t need to think about it? It’s something you never learned, it’s just something you can do.” Regina nodded. “It’s like that.” _

_ The brunette beamed as she watched Zelena transform into both their parents, some of their classmates, and other people they knew, but as the thrill of it wore down, Zelena started getting nervous, eyeing the door with great caution, wondering if Cora would walk in on them. She stopped holding the transformation, and jumped when Regina gasped. _

_ “What?” she asked her younger sister. _

_ “You’re green,” Regina told her, following on her heels to the mirror where, sure enough, she was staring at herself in the mirror, her natural appearance having shifted along with her ability. “Maybe you can just… be you,” Regina mumbled, and Zelena glared at her. _

_ “I  _ am _ me.” _

_ Regina’s eyes widened as she shook her head. “I’m sorry Z, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant… Mother will be asking questions.” _

_ Zelena’s face softened as she transformed to the form she had always held. It took more energy to keep it, but it was the only way. “I don’t think I should tell mom,” she confessed with a whisper. _

_ Regina didn’t need to ask why. Their mother was powerful. She always spoke about the day her daughter’s developed their powers, and all the ways they would benefit  _ her _. She was so certain that both of her children would be telepathic, with abilities she would be able to use to further her own power. _

_ But Zelena was a shapeshifter. _

_ “Maybe Mother will find a use for me,” she whispered one night into the darkness of the room. Regina didn’t have anything positive to say, so she pretended to be asleep. _

_ They both knew it was inevitable for Cora to find out, even without Zelena actively shifting, and they knew Henry wouldn’t be able to intervene. _

_ She found out sooner than either of them expected, and when Cora grabbed on Zelena’s wrist too hard, her eyes boring into blue and demanding the young girl to spill the information, she lost control of her disguise. As if burned, Cora dropped her arm the second Zelena transformed, her skin taking on its natural tone. _

_ “How long?” Cora hissed at her daughter. _

_ Zelena’s answer was mumbled fearfully, so quiet that Regina couldn’t hear it across the room, even as she stepped closer. She only recoiled when the back of her mother’s hand smacked against Zelena’s face. _

_ The redhead cowered against the wall, silent tears streaming down her face, and all Regina wanted to do was run to her older sister and comfort her, but when Cora turned on her, she knew that wouldn’t be a possibility. Not now, and maybe not ever again. _

When Regina opens her eyes, she isn’t surprised to see that she isn’t the only one who’s crying. “Zelena?” Regina asks, her voice only a whisper. Her sister gives her a faint smile. “I don’t understand.”

“I didn’t want to give you all the memories. Just the good ones. And that last one,” she explained, wiping the tears from her face before continuing. “I didn’t want you to relive the rest of it.”

“What happened?”

Zelena shakes her head with a bitter laugh. “She made you forget me, and she made me watch.” This information makes Regina breathless, her chest constricting painfully as she imagines what that must have been like. She can’t. “The last time I saw you, you had no idea who I was. Our mother told you I had betrayed her and disgraced the family. She got you to agree to send me away.”

“I would never have done that if…” she trails off when Zelena looks away from her, she can feel the mutual understanding between them, knowing that she doesn’t need to explain herself and that her sister holds no resentment. Not for her anyway. 

“Where did you go?”

Zelena releases a cold laugh. “Hell. Someplace deserving of the name anyway.” She shakes her head. “It was some place that was essentially the pound but for mutants. I was trained to fight and use my powers for… I’m hesitant to say  _ evil _ because how stereotypical is that,” Zelena says with a roll of her eyes, “but that was what it was, more or less. Obviously I made it out. I wasn’t sure how to make this conversation happen, so I waited until I knew there was someone you would listen to.”

“Emma…”

Zelena nods, “Though, in retrospect, it might not have been my brightest move. You  know her too well.”

“She has lie detection,” Regina snorts. “She’s incapable of lying unless there’s a power shield.”

“Well that explains a lot,” Zelena laughs, and Regina joins in a little. Regina wouldn’t have expected to feel this at ease with someone she hadn’t seen (or known existed) in nearly thirty years, but she did, other than the elephant in the room, their mother, and one other thing Regina can’t seem to stop thinking about.

“Did you know I would be looking for her?” At Zelena’s confused expression, Regina clarifies. “Emma.”

“No… why? Is she missing?”

Even though everything has changed, and Regina has weighed down with new memories since waking up, the situation with Emma missing is the same, only she’s more worried about it than before. 

She launches into an explanation about how she even found Zelena herte to begin with, and why she thinks that Emma’s been taken and is hidden underneath a psychic shield, so Regina can’t detect her. 

“You know,” Zelena starts, “I’ve been tracking out mother down for years, and she was fairly predictable, and not too difficult to locate, as long as I knew who to be, but there was a time a few months ago where she disappeared from the grid entirely. I haven’t been able to figure it out.”

Regina scoffs, “I might be able to help you out.”

“I was hoping you would be,” Zelena responds, relieved that she’s found help, but apprehensive about what it could mean. 

“She and a few others have been working against us. We haven’t figured out what their plan is, but it can’t be good. It divided the Brotherhood. They've been manipulating people, and kidnapping. I think they have Emma.”

“Is she in charge?” Zelena asks with a furrowed brow.

“No,” Regina shakes her head. “It’s some man named Hades.” Zelena’s lip twitches. “I don’t know who he is, but we think he has a psychic shield. Likely some other power as well, but we can’t figure it out. Whatever it is, it must be big…” The brunette trails off, leaning back in her chair. She isn’t sure if she should tell Zelena about Henry yet. She’s already mentioned him, but at the same time, she doesn’t feel like it’s right.

Before she can make up her mind, Zelena suddenly takes a deep breath, clearly on edge. “I know who Hades is,” she admits, “and I know what his power is.”

Regina is stunned silent, her mouth slack jawed as she tries to respond, but the questions don’t come out. 

They don’t need to for Zelena to know what they are, and with another sigh, sher tells Regina what she knows. “Hades was one of the people that ran the… place I was sent to. He wasn’t the one in charge, and I think he was kicked out a few months before I made it away from them. He had this whole plan for world domination. Everyone always thought he was joking, but I don’t think he ever was. And actually, whatever they’re up to, I’m sure it involves that plan.”

Regina swallows hard before asking, “What’s his power? Or power _ s _ , assuming he does have a psychic shield.

“He does,” Zelena confirms. “But his power… it’s really dangerous. If he got his hands on the right tools, or even just the right people, he could do serious damage.”

There’s something about it that doesn’t sit right, but she can’t place it. She thinks about Henry’s sudden appearance, the way Hades seemed thrilled to acquire her blood, and she wonders if it had been the same with Emma’s. She considers again telling Zelena about Henry, but she’s too afraid of the hard truth. “What’s his power?” she finally manages to ask.

Zelena hesitates before answering. “Possibility reconstruction.” Regina’s heart drops to her stomach.

* * *

 

The words have only been out in the open for a minute before a slip of paper appears out of nowhere, drifting from its point of origin into Regina’s lap. She’s still trying to wrap her head around what Hades’s power could possibly mean about Henry’s coming to be and for the fate of the world, but Zelena is looking at her expectedly, eyeing the ragged scrap of paper in her lap.

She frowns as she picks it up, frowning even more when she sees the state of the paper, not just ragged, but dirty, the words on the paper scribbled almost illegibly. 

It’s Emma’s handwriting.

Regina had no idea that the blonde was able to teleport objects, or that she was able to send something directly to Regina’s location, but regardless, she was grateful for it. The message was just an address, which was cryptic, but it was enough for Regina. She was sure that was where Emma was, and maybe even where their son was.

“We have to go,” she tells Zelena.

The redhead frowns at her. “Right now? We could be walking into a trap.”

“I don’t care, Zelena. That’s my family in there.” The word slips out before she even realizes, and her face goes slack when it dawns on her. Zelena looks a little less surprised, but the waves of mild horror flowing from her body have Regina on edge.

“You mentioned Henry earlier… is that…?”

“My son. And Emma’s. We… He-- he wasn’t always around.” Zelena squints, and then it clicks. “Hades needs him for his plan, doesn’t he?” Her sister watches with sympathy in her eyes as everything starts to finally fall together. “I thought he was just bait, but he… he’s using him. He has Emma now too.” She stands, her eyes burning as they meet her sister’s. “We need to go.  _ Now _ .”

* * *

 

For such an impulsive move, their plan isn’t horrible.

Regina shudders when she looks at Zelena, a perfect clone of their mother. “Is he really going to think it’s her?” Regina asks, a little unsure.

“Why? Wouldn’t you?” Zelena’s--  _ Cora’s _ voice cuts sharp, intending to hurt and degrade, and Regina shutters again.

“You’re too good at that.”

Zelena smirks, “I know.”

“You’re ready for this, aren’t you?”

Regina hesitates before answering her, not that she even knows what to say. She’s sure the answer is no, but the thought of Henry and Emma being in danger is enough to sway the answer to a full  _ yes _ .

It doesn’t seem like this mission could be quite as dangerous as the last, considering the location. Or at least Regina thinks so. Zelena is a little unsure. 

(The address led them to a place under renovation, which was sketchy at best, but it was in the middle of Times Square. “I don’t trust this location,” Zelena had said when they’d first approached, and Regina had frowned. “For his plan, he needs people. What better place than somewhere busy?”)

“I think it’s going to be fine. As long as we can get Emma and Henry out of there, I don’t know if he’ll even be able to enact his plan,” Zelena reminds her. “Really, that’s my only concern about the location. Like you said, it can’t get too violent without drawing attention, and if he still has to take over the world, the last thing he wants is to be on the news before he has his footing.”

“What about Mother?”

Zelena shrugs, “She’s right here. As long as the first ten minutes go fine, we won’t need to worry about her.”

It takes another minute of waiting for Regina to feel okay enough to send Zelena inside, following closely enough behind that she’ll stay aware of the situation. Zelena walks confidently down the hallway and into the back room, where Regina freezes and waits.

She hears her mother’s voice talking to Hades about how she just thought being  _ here _ would be better, since this is where the  _ important hostages are _ . when she hears Emma scoff, she can’t help but smile.

Zelena continues to talk to Hades about nothing important, and Regina waits a full minute before walking into the room, coming face to face with her sister’s disguise, gasping dramatically, Hades who looks more irritated than concerned, and Emma and Henry, the former tied up in a corner while Henry sits across the room watching cartoons on mute.

“She must have followed me here,” Zelena-as-Cora says with a scowl before she turns to Hades. “Drop the shield,” she orders. 

The man’s face falls. “What?”

“I would like to have a word with my daughter. Drop the shield.”

Hades rolls his eyes, but seems to comply with a dismissive and melodramatic wave. “Five minutes.” he mutters.

Zelena gives him a smirk before striding over to Regina, a hand around her neck, dark eyes boring into darker ones. It’s insane how much Regina fears hypnosis, even though she knows that Zelena is incapable of it, nor would she be using that against her if she were.

The brunette counts to ten before getting a lock on Hades’s mind, keeping him from stopping her or putting the shield back up. It’s the most she’s used her mind control in a while, but even so, she can tell he’s strong, too strong for her to have enough time.

Her eyes flicker to Emma, who looks stunned and confused, her gaze moving between Regina and the woman she believes to be Cora. “Emma, go,” she says before she drops to the floor. Hades is overpowering her more and more by the second.

Zelena is herself again when she drops to Regina’s side, but the brunette shakes her head as her sister’s eyes become level with hers. “Untie Emma. Get Henry. I can’t--”

Her eyes squeeze shut of their own volition, and everything seems like it happens at once in the next minute, but all she can feel is the throbbing of her head in her hands. The way is feels like Hades is punching her mind to break himself free. It’s all she can do not to pass out. 

When she feels her hold on him snap, she stays on the floor, gasping for breath. A dark chuckle escapes Hades mouth, and it’s informative enough to let Regina know that no one has left yet. She looks up, her vision blurry, and she spots Emma, darting towards her. She feels Zelena trying to help her up, and she shakes her head.

The shield stays down long enough for her to relay a message to Emma:

_ Go. Take Zelena. I’ll protect our son. I lov-- _

That’s when the shield goes up.

There are tears in Emma’s eyes when she and Zelena disappear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally some answers right? i'd love to hear your thoughts!


End file.
